The Anthropologist's Son
by Southern Steel
Summary: Henry and his friends are being followed and they don't know why, until Henry's parents reveal a startling truth: they have discovered a lost civilization and some people will stop at nothing to get it. ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
1. Chapter 1

**_So this is my first Unnatural History fanfiction. I hope that I stayed fairly close to the characters characteristics, if not, I will try and do better next time. :) The first chapter is kind of slow, but the chapters after this will hopefully have more action. :) Hope you like it! :D_**

_The Anthropologist's Son_

Bright light flooded the room as the shades were thrown back from the windows. Jasper Bartlett moaned and pulled hte covers over his head.

"Rise and shine!" his ocusin, Henry Griffin, said happily as he pulled the curtains back all the way.

"Henry." Jasper whined from under the covers. "Shut the curtains! It's to early!"

"No it's not." Henry replied cheerfully. "It's late."

Jasper just grunted and made no effort to get up. Henry frowned slightly, before smiling. He walked over to where Jasper kept a cup of water. Henry grinned and walked over to where Jasper slept with his head under the covers. He reached down and quickly yanked the sheets off of Jasper's head and poured the glass of water on his head.

Jasper jumped up, shaking his head and sputtering. Henry sat the glass back down and cracked up laughing.

"Henry!" Jasper exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"You wouldn't get up." Henry replied chuckling. "Besides, you were sleeping in!"

"What time is it?" Jasper asked as he wiped his face.

"Almost 8:30." Henry replied. "Hurry up or you won't get anything to eat."

"It's Saturday and you woke me up at 8:30?" Jasper fumed. "Are you crazy?"

Henry looked surprised.

"No." he replied honestly. "It's just late. Couldn't let you sleep in."

"Where's Dad?" Jasper yawned as he stood to get up. He knew it was pointless to go back to sleep, HEnry would just wake him up again.

"He said he had an interview to give." Henry replied, still laughing slightly.

"At 8 in the morning?" Jasper asked incredioubsly. "What sane person is up at 8 in the morning."

Hentry shooked his head at his cousin.

"Uncle Bryan said that was the only time this guy could get the interview."

"What's he interviewing him for?" Jasper asked as he changed.

"How should I know?" Henry replied. "He just told me he was leaving to interview a guy and to make sure you didn't sleep in to late."

"You could have let me sleep in." Jasper mumbled.

"I did!" Henry replied, not sure what he did wrong. "I could have woken you up at 7 when I got up."

Jasper gaped at his cousin, not sure how he could stand to wake up that early on a Saturday. Henry just shrugged and walked out the room. Jasper sighed as he finished changing and followed his cousin to the kitchen.

On the table in the kitchen was a surprisingly American breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, gravy, biscuts, and orange juice.

"Did you cook this, Henry?" Jasper asked, wanting to make sure he wasn't going to be eating horse meat instead of bacon.

"No." Henry rolled his eyes. "Uncle Bryan did, I just put it on the table."

Jasper sighed in relief and sat down and started to eat. Henry sat down as well and the two ate in silence. When breakfast was over, Henry took the plates and cups to the dishwasher and let Jasper turn it on as he didn't know how. He watched closely, but still got lost when the machine turned on with just a press of a button.

"I'm going to the park," Henry commented. "You wanna..."

"No." Jasper interrupted.

"But Jasper..." Henry began.

"No, I don't want to be part of your morning monk exersice or whatever it is you do." Jasper replied as he headed toward the stairs to go to his room. "You got me up, so I might as well get started on my homework."

"Maggie will be there." Henry said.

Jasper stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"And what exactly are you doing?" he asked carefully.

Henry just shrugged.

"What does it matter?" he asked as he walked to the door. "You said you didn't want to come."

He opened the door and walked out, sure that Jasper would follow. Sure enough, Henry hadn't reached the end of the sidewalk when the door opened and Jasper came running out to join him.

"Not a word." he hissed as he walked beside his cousin.

Henry just grinned as they walked to the park. It didn't take long before they reached the park. As it was early, there was only a few people there. None of them were Maggie.

"I thought you said Maggie was going to be here." Jasper said as he looked around for her.

"Yeah, about that." Henry said as he slowly backed away from Jasper. "I may have kind of had my fingers crossed."

Jasper's eyes narrowed as Henry kept backing up, wondering if maybe he should have just come alone.

"You mean you lied?" Jasper took a step closer to his cousin.

"Not exactly!" Henry defended. "Just stretched the truth!"

Jasper didn't reply, just kept stepping toward Henry.

"Jasper?" Henry asked nervously, stepping backwards. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm perfectly fine." Jasper replied, only a few feet from Henry. "But you won't be when I catch you!"  
Jasper suddenly ran at Henry, who narrowly twisted out of the way. Then began all out war. Jasper would run after Henry, who would dodge and run away and taunt his cousin.

"Is that the best you got?" he called as Jasper paused to catch his breath.

Jasper tried to reply, but he was out of breath. Suddenly he got an idea. He fell to the ground and laid there, unmoving.

"Jasper?" Henry asked, taking a step. "Jasper, are you all right?"

Jasper didn't reply. He just lay on the ground and didn't move, didn't open his eyes.

"Jasper? Jasper! Answer me!" Henry called in a worried voice as he ran and kneeled beside his prone cousin.

"Hello Henry." Jasper suddenly said.

He grabbed Henry and threw him to the ground. Jasper climbed on top of him and pinned his arms to the ground. He was stronger then he looked and managed to keep Henry on the ground.

"You give up?" he asked.

"No!" Henry replied as he struggled to get free.

"In that case..." Jasper cut off grinning.

He let go of Henry's arms, but before Henry could break free, Jasper started tickling his cousin. Henry, caught by surprise, just laid there laughing for a moment, before struggling once more to get free. By then, both boys were laughing.

"You give up?" Jasper repeated.

"Yes! Yes!" Henry laughed.

Jasper laughed as he got off Henry and helped him to his feet.

"You're gonna pay for that." Henry grinned.

Jasper realized what Henry meant and he took off running. Henry gave him a few seconds head start before taking off after him and starting the war over again.

From behind a newspaper on the other side of the park, a pair of eyes followed the boy's every move. As Henry and Jasper stopped playing and left the park, the newspaper was folded up and a man stood and followed the boys at a distance. When he saw them go into the Bartlett house, the man grinned slyly, turned around, and walked back the way he had came, leaving the boys unaware that they had been followed.


	2. Chapter 2

_**This chapter kinda skips through Saturday, Sunday and most of Monday, but that's becasue I needed to focus on only a few things. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :) More to come soon! :D :)**_

_Chapter 2_

Bryan Bartlett was home by 10. When he walked in, Jasper was doing orintology homework at the kitchen table and Henry was doing some sort of meditation thing on the floor. He looked at Jasper and commented slyly:

"I see you're up early."

Henry tried to hide a laugh while Jasper just glared at them both.

"How'd the interview go?" Jasper asked as he put his book down.

"Good." his father replied. "You will have a new teacher on Monday."

"Really?" Henry asked, not opening his eyes or moving from his meditation pose. "What does he teach?"

"Miss Hazel will be teaching ancient civilizations for a short while until Mr. Hendricks gets back from a well deserved vacation." Mr. Bartlett emphasized the word "Miss".

"Mr. Hendricks is leaving?" Henry asked. He opened his eyes, stood up, and waled over to the table where his homework sat untouched beside Jasper's.

"Only for two months." Mr. Bartlett replied.

"What's this Miss Hazel like?" Jasper asked.

"You can find out on Monday." his father replied as he headed for the stairs. "I have some paperwork to do, so I will be in my office if you need anything."

With that, he headed up the stairs leaving the two boys in the kitchen. Jasper immediatly began to start on his homework again, while Henry looked at his homework and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Jasper asked.

Henry shrugged. "Finish meditating."

"What about your homework?" Jasper asked incredioubsly.

"I'll do it later." Henry replied.

"No!" Jasper got up and blocked Henry's way. "Now."

Henry just rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen table and opened his orinthology book.

"Happy?" he asked sarcastically.

Jasper just rolled his eyes and sat down and started answering the questions in his own orinthology book. Henry skipped through the part he had already read, and the part he hadn't, and started on the questions.

"Did you already read the whole chapter?" Jasper asked.

"Yes." Henry replied, not looking up.

Jasper just shook his head and started working on his own.

"Hey Jasper," Henry said after a few moments. "What's the answer to number 10?"

Jasper looked at Henry before reading the question: What is the United States of America's national bird?

"Seriosuly, Henry?" Jasper asked. He sighed when Henry shook his head yes. "It's the bald eagle."

"Thank you." Henry said as he quickly wrote the answer down.

The rest of the weekened went by quickly and Monday was soon on them. Both boys remembered that the new teacher, Mrs. Hazel, was suppose to be starting today. Unfortuantly, they had to wait till the end of the day to meet her.

"Hey guys!" there friend, Maggie Winnock, called as they walked into the school.

"Hey Maggie!" Jasper greeted her with a smile.

"Hey." Henry said.

"Have you all heard about Mr. Hendricks?" She asked as they all walked to their first class.

"That he is going on a two month vacation." Jasper began.

"And Miss Hazel is going to be our teacher till he returns." Henry finished.

"Your Dad told you all, didn't he." Maggie said, clearly unimpressed.

"Yep." Jasper grinned. "On Saturday."

Maggie rolled her eyes.

"Come on smart alacks," she said, "or we're gooing to be late for orinthology."

The rest of the day went by with kids talking in excited voices about the new teacher. Some said she was the best, but most said she was off her rocker. By the time it was finally Ancient Civilizations, the three friends, as well as the rest of their class, were greatly anticipating meeting Miss Hazel.

Not one kid was late and everyone was in there seats as the bell rang. The entire class was quiet as they sat there waiting for the new teacher. Five minutes passed, yet no one was there. Whispers started.

"Where do you think she is?" Maggie whispered.

"Maybe she's napping in the teachers lounge." Jasper suggested.

The words were barely out of his mouth when a young lady came stumbling into the room.

"Sorry I'm late!" she panted as she pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. "Got caught up talking."

The class stared surpised at there new teacher. She couldn't have been more twenty-five, if that. She was relativly short with short blonde hair that she stuffed behind her ears. In her hands, she carried a briefcase with papers sticking out the sides. She placed the briefcase on her desk and fixed her hair before addressing the class.

"As I'm sure you are aware, I am Miss Hazel. I will be your teacher for the next two months while Mr. Hendricks is on vacation." she paused and glanced down at a piece of paper that was on her desk. "I see you have been studing the conquistadors and the empires they conquered. This is good, as that is one of my favorite subjects."

The class was dead silent, curious as to how this teacher would teach.

"But, before I begin this class," she changed the subject. "I want to get to know all of you. When I call out your name, say here and I will ask you one question for you to answer."

The class mumbled slightly at the oddity of this, but were quiet as soon as the first name was announced.

"Mary Anderson."

A brown haired girl squeaked out "Here" nervously.

"Hello Mary." Miss Hazel smiled at her before asking the question. "Where are you originaly from?"

"P..Pennsylvania." Mary replied, obviously still nervous.

"Lovely place this time of the year." the teacher commented before calling out the next name.

"Jasper Bartlett."

"Here." Jasper called, sounding a little uncofortable.

"Jasper, have you ever been outside of Washington D.C.?"

"Yeah, a couple of times to visit my grandparents." Jasper sounded relieved.

And so it went. Miss Hazel would call out a kids name, ask them a simple question, then move on. Despite the fact that the questions weren't embarassing or anything, every person seemed nervous.

"Henry Griffin."

"Here." Henry said calmly.

"Is it true that your parents sent you to live with your uncle and cousin because you were to much trouble and kept getting into mischief?"

"No!" Henry replied quickly, before continued. "Well yes. Uh sorta."

Miss Hazel's eybrows went up in question at that. Henry could feel the entire class's eyes on him and it made him slightly uncomfortable. He squirmed slightly in his seat.

"Care to explain, Henry?" Miss Hazel asked.

"Well, I did get in trouble some, but that's not why I was sent here!" Henry defended himself, blushing slightly. "They sent me here because they wanted me to live in the one place I've never been."

The class seemed to instantly break out in whisperes and Henry leaned back in his seat, embrassed.

"Jessica Kimble." Miss Hazel continued, hushing the class for now.

Finally, Miss Hazel got down to the last name on the list.

"Margaret Winnock."

"Here." Maggie replied with a smile.

"Is it true that your father is in the Air Force?"

"Yes. Stationed here in D.C." Maggie replied. It was common knowledge.

Miss Hazel nodded and put the roll call down.

"Now, as I was saying before," she started. "We will be continuing with teh Spanish conquistoadors. Now, who will summarize what your last lesson was on?"

Maggie's hand shot up into the air.

"Margaret." Miss Hazel said. Unusual, because most teachers called them by their last names, not first.

"Mr. Hendricks had just reached the topic of El Dorado and the Seven Cities of Gold. But we had not gone into depth yet, just mentioned the name and what they are rumered to be."

"Thank you Margaret." Miss Hazel walked in front of her desk and folded her hands in front of her. "Now, who can tell me where the famed city of El Dorado is supposedly located?"

Again, Maggie's hand shot up, but Henry's hand was up as well.

"Henry."

"It's suposodly to be found in the America's." Henry said, remembering the rumers he had heard from when he had lived in the Amazon. "But most suspect that it is somewhere in South America around the Amazon River."

"Very good!" Miss Hazel smiled at him, making Henry feel slightly uncomfortable. "Now, conquistoadors never found the famed City of Gold, of course, but many still believe that the city does exist. T hey eblieve that it is hidden in the vastness of the Amazon jungle. Many have even brought gold out of the jungle, claiming that they got into from the natives who got it from El Dorado."

She paused and walked over to her briefcase. She opened it, papers spilling to the floor. Ignoring the paper, she dug around in the briefcase till she found what she was looking for. She lifted her hands out of the briefcase and showed the class what she had found. In her hand was a small golden statue.

"This," she said dramatically. "Is one of those pieces rumered to have come from El Dorado."

The class all leaned forward in their seats, trying to get a better look.

"I'm going to pass this around." Miss Hazel announced as she handed it to Maggie who sat in the front row. "Please study the artwork on it and try and see if you can place where in the Amazon it came from."

Maggie looked at it, but she had no clue where it had come from. She passed it to Jasper, who pratically drooled as he attempt to calculate how much money he held in his hand. He almost didn't pass it to Henry he was so busy calculating.

When Henry did get the coin,he instanty recognized it.

"It's from Columbia." he said allowed, forgetting to raise his hand.

Miss Hazel was clearly surpised. Appearently, she had not expected anyone to recognize it.  
"That... that is correct, Henry." she said. "But how did you know?"

"I saw lots of these when I lived with the Yukpa tribe." Henry explained, handing the coin to the boy next to him. "Many claimed that these pieces came from El Dorado, but most just came from trade with other tribes who had them from when the conquistadors were there."

Miss Hazel was clearly upset about that. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a hand go up.

"Yes Robert." she called on the boy.  
"How did you get this gold piece?" he asked.

"I went to Colombia recently," she explained, "And while there, I was given this coin by a friend who said her great grandfather had gone to El Dorado once and brought back lots of gold pieces, before he died of unnatural causes."

"What kind of unnatural causes?" A girl in the back asked.

"He fell into the Amazon and was eaten by piranah." Miss Hazel said matter-of-factly. "Every year, my friend's family makes a generous donation to their gods in an attempt to ward off any curse that her great grandfather might have brought upon them." she laughed. "Of course, all of that is just silly nonsence. There are no such things as curses that haunt families for decades."

Henry opened his mouth to argue, but he wisely shut it when Jasper elbowed him none to gently in the ribs. A girl in the back raised her hand.  
"What was the curse said to do?" she asked.

"Good question." Miss Hazel, said enthusiastically. "My friend said that when her great grandfather returned from El Dorado, he was weak, injured, and dehydrated. While she was not born at the time, her grandfather has passed this story on to her and her siblings. Her father was another witness, though he was just a boy at the time. Anyways, when her great grandfatehr was well enough to talk, he told his family that he had been to El Dorado and battled with the protectors**_*_** of the city. Although he escaped with his life and some of the gold, he told his family that the protectors had placed a curse on him and his family, that all the firstborn males in his family would die of unnatural causes before their thirtieth birthday. Her great grandfather was the exception, as he died at an old age. Two years after her great grandfather's death, my friend's uncle was burned to death, and a year after that her cousin died by being bit by a poisiouness snake. Both were the firstborn males and both had not reached there thirtieth birthdays. It was then that the males in her family got together and came up with this idea to ward off the curse. By offering sacrafices of gold in the area around where her great grandfather said El Dorado could be found, no more of there men have died." She laughed. "Of course, all that is just supersticous nonsence."

The entire class was silent as she finished her story. Clearly in awe of there teachers expertise, not one word was said. Then the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Miss Hazel called cheerfully. "No homework for tonite, but be ready to begin serious work tomorrow."

The class filed out of the room, cahttering about the new teacher.

"I like her." Maggie commented as they all walked outside. "She has real experiance and knows what she's talking about."

"And she's totally hot." Jasper added.  
Maggie shook her head in annoyance.

"I don't like her." Henry said.

"What?" Jasper and Maggie asked in unision. "Why not?"

"I don't trust her." Henry shrugged. "Just a feeling. I mean, what kind of teacher is late on her first day of class?"  
"She said she was talking." Maggie argued. "Maybe she was talking to another teacher."  
Henry shook his head. "In that case she would have been a little late, but not by five minutes."

"Come on Henry," Jasper said harshly. "Don't turn every little thing into a mystery. She's a good teacher, and that's that."

"I still don't trust her." Henry said firmly.

Maggie and Jasper shook there heads in annoyance.

"I better hurry," Henry said. "I'm gonna be late for my shift."

He left to go to the D.O.U.M. rooms without another word or a look back.

"How can he not trust her?" he heard Jasper ask Maggie. "He just met her! It's not like she's a criminal mastermind."

Henry couldn't hear Maggie's response, but he quickened his pace. He couldn't explain why he didn't trust Miss Hazel, he just didn't. He shook his head to clear all thoughts of the new teacher and got ready to scan files in the D.O.U.M. rooms.

**_*I kinda made the part about the protectors of El Dorado up. In all honesty, I do not know if there is any part i nteh legend of El Dorado that mentions "protectors of the city", but it sounded cool and made the story more interesting I think. :) Hope you liked it! :)_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**And here's chapter 3! :D Hope you're enjoying my story. Just so you know, I'm not that great at writing fight scenes, so you may have to imagine how Henry fights yourself. :) Anyways, this chapter is way shorter then the last two, and is a cliff hanger. :) Sorry, had to do it! Next chapter will be up sometime! :) Now, on to the chapter!**_

_Chapter 3_

Henry's shift went by slow and boring. He found nothing interesting in the files, and his thoughts kept straying back to the new teacher. Although he had had time to think, he still couldn't understand why he didn't trust Miss Hazel. Maybe it was the way she had looked at him, or maybe it was just the way she had composed herself. All Henry knew, was that he didn't trust her.

When his shift finally ended, Henry made his way home. Usually Jasper would come and pick him up, but Henry ahd completly forgot to ask him to come and pick him up. So Henry walked home alone. THe sun was going down and the street lights were coming on when Henry suddenly stopped. He tilted his head as if he were listening to something. He looked around, but when he didn't see anything, he kept going. He was only a few minutes from the house when a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder and jerked him around.

Henry reacted instantly. He grabbed the hand and flipped the person who had a hold of him. The person hit the ground hard and the person moaned.

"Henry!"

Henry recoiled when he realized that the person he had flipped was Jasper.

"Sorry!" Henry exclaimed as he helped Jasper to his feet.

"That hurt, Henry." Jasper scolded, rubbing his back.

"Well you shouldn't have put your hand on my shoulder!" Henry replied.

"How was I suppose to know you would go all ninja on me?" Jasper asked.

"Natural reflex." Henry grinned. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way home from band practice." Jasper was still rubbing his back.

Henry shrugged and started walking again. Jasper quickly caught up and the two walked in silence. Suddenly Henry stopped again.

"Did you hear that?" he asked in a low voice.

"Hear what?" Jasper asked in his normal voice.

"Shhh!" Henry hissed. "Listen."

The two stood in the middle of the sidewalk, listening. Then Jasper heard it too. From somewhere behind them, there were footsteps.

"It's a public sidewalk, Henry." Jasper whispered. "It could be anyone."

Henry just shrugged and started walking, slightly faster then normal. Jasper kept up, although he was sure they weren't being followed. It had to be someone coming home late, just like them.

They could see the house in the distance, they ahd just a little while longer till they were home. From behind them, the footsteps were louder and closer. Henry suddenly spun around, and came face to face with three people dressed from head to toe in black. They wore black ski masks and each held a pistol in there hand.

"Uh, Henry." Jasper stuttered, his eyes wide as he took in the three behind him.

""Run!" Henry exclaimed, grabbing Jasper's arm and taking of toward the house.

That was all the encouragement Jasper needed. The two boys were running as fast as they could away from the masked men who were right behind them.

"Keep going!" Henry ordered.

Jasper kept running as Henry spun around, surpising the masked men who stopped in there tracks. Henry used that to his advantage and he quickly knocked one of the men to the ground. By then, one of the men had recovered and pointed his cocked pistol at Henry.

"Stay where you are, boy." the man commanded in a gruff voice. "Or I'll shoot."  
Henry froze. By then, the other man had also brought up his pistol. Henry rna through his options in his head: he could take out one of the men, then the other one would shoot him dead, or he could do as they say and let them kill him later. Neither option was very inviting.

Then one of the men went crashing to the ground. Everyone's eyes went to where the man had been standing. Henry was surpised to see Jasper standing there hoding a piece of wood. He looked as shocked as everyone else. Henry quickly got over his shock and kicked the gun out of the one guys hand and then sent a quick kick in the other man's direction.

"Run!" he cried, spinning Jasper around.

The two boys kept running and didn't turn around to see where the men where. They had reached the front of there house and were running up the walk when a gunshot rang out and Henry fell to the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

_**And here's the 4th chapter! :) Thank you to Lexer047 musicismyhero and VladdieChica for the nice reviews. :) This next chapter is probably not very medically accurate, but I'm not a doctor. Hopefully I didn't mess up to bad on time periods and symptoms or anything. Hope you like it. :)**_

_Chapter 4_

_They had reached the front of there house and were running up the walk when a gunshot rang out and Henry fell to the ground._

_"Henry!" Jasper cried, bending down and shaking his unconscious cousin. _

A small trickle of blood was leaking down Henry's face, but that was all Jasper noticed as another gunshot rang out, hitting the bush behind Jasper. That got him moving. Jasper put Henry's arm around his shoulders and have carried, half dragged his cousin up to the front porch. More gunshots rang out, some coming close but none hit either of the boys. As Jasper reached for the door, it was thrown open. His Dad stood in front of him.

"Jasper!" he exclaimed, looking from Jasper to Henry and back. "What is going on? What's wrong with Henry?"

Just then another gunshot rang out, taking chips out of the door.

"What the.." Mr. Bartlett exclaimed before moving aside. "Get in here!"

Jasper wasted no time in dragging Henry in. As soon as the boys where inside, Mr. Bartlett slammed the door shut. No more gunshots rang out, and no one came running and trying to bust the door down.

"Jasper Alexander Bartlett," Jasper's dad was furious. "What is going on? Why was someone shooting at you?"

"I'll explain later," Jasper panted as he laid Henry on the couch. "Henry's been shot!"

That got Mr. Bartlett moving. Instantly, he was beside his nephew's side, looking for the wound.

"It just grazed him." he announced. "Go and get me a towel or something to stop the blood."

Jasper nodded and ran to the kitchen and grabbed a dish towel and took it back to his Dad. Mr. Bartlett put the dish towel on Henry's head and applied pressure.

"Shouldn't we take him to teh hospital?" Jasper asked, his adrenaline still pumping.

Mr. Bartlett considered it.

"He's a tough boy," he finally said. "And it's really not that bad. It just barely grazed his head. Not enough to severely hurt him or damage his skull, just knock him out."

Jasper stared at his father in astonishment.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"I use to read medical journals when I was a teenager." his father replied.

Jasper looked at his Dad like he was crazy. Mr. Bartlett removed the towel.

"The bleeding has stopped." he announced. "He should wake up soon."

Mr. Bartlett got up and went to wash the towel in the sink. Jasper went and sat in the chair across from the couch, his eyes focused on the still unconscious Henry.

"Now," Mr. Bartlett said as he walked back over with a torn up rag. He walked over to Henry and wrapped it around his head as a bandage. "I think I deserve to know why people were shooting at you two."

"I don't know." Jasper answered, calming down slightly.

"You don't know?" Mr. Bartlett sounded like he didn't believe him. "So people randomly decided to shoot you two, is that it?"

"Sorta." Jasper replied, thinking. "We were walking home when Henry thought he heard something. So we waited and we heard footsteps. Since we were on the sidewalk, we just kept walking. But the footsteps kept getting closer and faster and when we turned around again to look, these three guys in black were following us carrying pistols."

"In black," his Dad interrupted. "You mean like completely covered, or just wearing normal dark clothes?"

"Completly covered." Jasper informed. "They had ski masks and everything."

"So what happened next?" Mr. Bartlett asked.

"We took off running and they did too." Jasper continued. "Then Henry suddenly told me to keep running and I did. He turned back and started attacking those guys when they pulled there pistols on him. They didn't shoot, just told him to do as they say. Then I saw a piece of wood on the ground and I hit one of the guys over the head with it and Henry kicked the other two and we took off running to the house. Then they started shooting. Henry got hit when we were on the drive and you know the rest."

"But why?" his father asked, looking at Henry.

"I don't know." Jasper replied.

They sat in silence, each watching Henry for any signs of life. It would be another thirty minutes before he started to move. When he did, his hands instantly went up to his head. Mr. Bartlett was there quickly to take his hands off the spot he had been shot.

"What happened?" Henry mumbled as he opened his eyes, blinking in the sudden bright light.

"You got shot." Mr. Bartlett explained quietly. "Just try not to..."

He was cut off by Henry sitting up fast and exclaiming.

"Sho..."

Then he fell back onto the couch and moaned.

"Henry!" Jasper exclaimed, running to kneel beside his father.

"Don't move to fast." Mr. Bartlett finished.

"What exactly happened?" Henry asked, looking at Jasper.

"We were running, they shot you, and you fell unconscious for," Jasper looked at his watch. "A little over thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes?" Henry exclaimed in surprise, but he didn't try to sit back up. "I guess those guys got away."

"Duh!" Jasper exclaimed. "They were trying to kill us! What did you do? Expect them to shoot to kill then put there guns down and come and turn themselves in?"

Henry tried to laugh, but he groaned as his head started throbbing.

"It would probably be best if you went on to bed." Mr. Bartlett said standing up. "And I don't think either of you need to go to school tomorrow."

Henry looked happy about that, Jasper not so much, but he didn't argue.

"Think you can stand, Henry?" Mr. Bartlett asked.

"Of course I can." Henry insisted.

But when he tried to sit up, he fell back again.

"Jasper, help me." Mr. Bartlett said as he wrapped Henry's arm around his neck.

Jasper did the same with Henry's other arm. Walking strangely, the three finally made it up the stairs and got Henry in the hammock he had hung up in his and Jasper's room. Henry was asleep almost as soon as he got comfortable.

"Night Dad." Jasper said as he climbed into his bed as well.

"Night Jasper." Mr. Bartlett paused at the door. "And Jasper, I want you two to be careful tomorrow while you're home alone. You never know if those guys will come back or not."

"We will." Jasper agreed.

His Dad smiled and shut the door as he walked out of the room. Jasper turned the light off and climbed into bed. Neither of the sleeping boys bothered to shut the window, and neither thought of the masked men again until morning.


	5. Chapter 5

_**So here's chapter 5! Thank you for all the reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. :)**_

**_ SaguaroCactus, I know that my spelling is not that good, but the program I am writing the story on doesn't have a spell check and fanfiction's is not the best. But I will try harder to catch misspelled words. :) And also, I wasn't specific enough. When I said they forgot to shut the window, I actually meant the curtains. Thank you for pointing that out. :) I need to change that. :) Thank you! _**

**__****_Now! On to the next chapter! :D _**

_Chapter 5_

"So who do you think they were?" Jasper asked.

He and Henry, who was feeling much better, were downstairs on the couch talking about last night's encounter.

"I don't know." Henry replied, thinking. "Maybe they were just average bandits looking to make a few bucks by stealing our money."

"Then why the guns?" Jasper asked.

"And why shoot at us?" Henry added, touching the makeshift bandadge gently.

"How's your head?" Jasper asked.

"Better." Henry replied. "Still throbs a little, but I can walk at least."

Jasper opened his mouth to say something else, when his phone began to vibrate like crazy.

"What's going on?" Henry asked as he stared at the cell phone.

"I have a text." Jasper said as he grabbed his cell phone.  
"What's a text?" Henry asked.

"It's a..." Jasper looked up and sighed. "Forget it."  
Henry just shrugged and moved to look over Jasper's shoulder.

"Maggie wants to know where we are." Jasper said as he hit the keys on the phone and pressed send.

"What did you tell her?" Henry asked.

"That we're at home and we'll explain later." Jasper replied.

The phone vibrated again.

"That's strange." Jasper said.

"What's strange?" Henry asked.

"I don't know this number." Jasper replied as he opened the message.

He stared wide eyed at it as he read it.  
"What's it say?" Henry asked.

When Jasper didn't reply, Henry reached over and took the phone out of his hands. Jasper didn't seem to mind as Henry read the message on the screen.

"You escaped last night, next time you won't be as lucky."

"It's from the people who shot me!" Henry exclaimed.

Jasper seemed to come out of his shocked fase.

"Yeah!" he snapped. "And they want to kill us!"

Henry seemed to be thinking.

"I don't think so." he finally said. "I think they were just after me."

"What makes you think that?" Jasper asked, looking at his cousin.

"Well," Henry explained. "When I went back after telling you to run, they were focused solely on me and didn't try and go after you. Even after they had there guns pointed at me, they seemed to have forgotten about you."

"So?" Jasper said, not sure what to think. "That doesn't mean anything. Maybe they did forget about me."  
"Or were so focused on me, that they didn't think about you." Henry countered.

"But why would they be after you?" Jasper asked. "You haven't done anything, have you?"

"No!" Henry exclaimed. "I have no idea why they would be after me."

They were silent again when the phone vibrated.

"It's Maggie." Jasper sighed in relief as he checked his phone. "She says she'll come over after school."

Henry nodded and leaned back and closed his eyes.

"Tired?" Jasper asked.

"Meditating." Henry replied without opening his eyes.

"Not your usual pose." Jasper commented.

Henry opened his eyes and looked at Jasper.

"Well I'lm obviously not going to be standing on my head for a little while." he said befor shutting his eyes again.

Jasper laughed and before long Henry was laughing to. They laughed for five minutes before calming down.

"I'll go make us some lunch." Jasper said standing up. "What do you want, pizza?"

"Do we have any more camel meat?" Henry asked.

Jasper turned and glared at Henry.

"Pizza's fine." Henry laughed nervously.

Jasper nodded in agreement and went to make the pizza.

"Are you sure those men are after Henry?" Maggie asked.

It was after school and Henry and Jasper had just filled Maggie in on why they had skipped school.

"Why else would they have shot at us?" Henry asked.

"Maybe because you two ran from them and beat them up." Maggie suggested.

"I don't think so." Henry said.

He had taken the makeshift bandage off his head, and the only evidense that he had been shot was a small graze on the side of his head.

"What makes you think that?" Maggie asked.

"I don't know." Henry replied. "Just a feeling."

"You've had a lot of feelings lately." Jasper commented.

Henry shook his head.

"I can't explain these things," he said. "Odis once said that a feeling is a gut instinct. Rely upon it."

"Well I think your feeling is wrong." Maggie said. "About Miss Hazel at least. She's a real nice person. Even asked about you two today."

"What did you tell her?" Jasper asked.

"That you were sick." Maggie glanced at Henry. "Guess I wasn't completly wrong."

"Why did she ask about us?" Henry asked, thinking.

"She called role again." Maggie answered.

"Why?" Jasper said confused. "No other teacher does."

"She's new." Maggie shrugged. "Guess she just wants to learn people's names."

Something seemed to hit Henry.

"But yesterday, she remembered everyone's name well enough to call them by name." he commented.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.

"He's right." Maggie announced. "You were to busy figuring out how much that coin was worth, but she called Robert by his name, and us as well."

"You're name was the last one on the list," Jasper argued, "So it's natural that she would remember yours. And no one would forget Henry after he fumbled over the question she asked."

"Thanks." Henry said sarcastically.

"Sorry," Jasper grinned, "But it's the truth."

"Then how do you explain her knowing Robert's name immediatly?" Maggie asked.

"Maybe she's like you," Jasper suggested, "Maybe she has a photgraphic memory."  
"Then why call roll again?" Henry asked.

Maggie was pacing the room. The boys could almost hear her brain whirling as she thought.

"Maybe," she said slowly, "Just maybe she wanted to know why you two weren't there today."

"What makes you think that?" Jasper asked.

"Well," Maggie explained slowly. "While we were all walking in, she kept scanning everyone of us, as if looking for someone. Then she went back to her desk and had to look for the role sheet. Now that I think about it, she didn't act like she had planned to call role."

Something seemed to ring in Jasper's head.

"Did she assigned homework?" he asked.

"Yes," Maggie rolled her eyes and pulled a piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. "Here."

Jasper scanned the piece of paper.

"Write a one page report on El Dorado!" he exclaimed. "But I know nothing about El Dorado!"

"That's what the book is for." Maggie said sarcastically.

She grabbed her backpack and started toward the door.

"My dad said to be home before supper." She said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"See ya Maggie!" Henry and Jasper called as she walked out the door.

"We better get started on this assignment." Jasper said.

Henry just shrugged. The two boys walked over to the kitchen table and began there homework. Jasper started thumbing through the book while Henry just started writing. Jasper shook his head, annoyed over how Henry didn't care about grades or school. They worked on the paper for the rest of the day. Henry finished first and went to cook supper, with Jasper watching closely. By ten, both boys were in bed and asleep. The curtains were still open and neither boy noticed the black shapes in the tree on the opposite side of the road.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6! :) Hope ya'll are enjoying the story. Things should get a bit more interesting and action filled from here on! :)**_

_Chapter 6_

The next day passed fairly quickly. Before to long it was time for Miss Hazel's class. Henry found himself wishing that he was still at home, acting sick, instead of here in her class.  
"Ah, Henry, Jasper." Miss Hazel smiled at them as they walked in. "I hope you two are feeling better."

"Much better, thank you." Jasper replied as they walked back to their seats.

"All right class," Miss Hazel said as the bell rang. She obviously didn't plan to call role today. "I hope you all studied hard last night because we are having a pop quiz today."

The class groaned as Miss Hazel continued.

"Mary, would you collect last night's essays," Mary instantly stood and started collecting the papers. "And Jessica, will you pass the quiz out."

She held a stack of papers out and Jessica walked up and got them and started passing them out behind Mary.

"You have the rest of the class period to finish the quiz." Miss Hazel said when Jessica and Mary sat down. "As you take the quiz I will be grading your homework and will pass them out at the end of class as you leave."

The quiz was fairly easy and Henry finished fairly quickly, though Maggie and a few others were done first. He glanced over at Jasper who was scribbling like crazy and biting the eraser of his pencil. Henry looked back down at his paper and reviewed his answers. Feeling confident, he turned his paper over and looked up at Miss Hazel. He was surprised to see her staring intently at him. When she realized he was looking, her head shot down to the paper's she was grading quickly. Slightly unsettled, Henry glanced back at the clock and counted down the minutes til the bell rang rang. When it finally did, Miss Hazel was quick to announce:

"Just put your quiz on my desk and I'll give you your homework."

The class quickly pushed to the front and Jasper, Maggie, and Henry were near the back. Finally, the three of them got there quizzes turned in.

"Henry," Miss Hazel said before he could leave, "Could you stay for a minute."

"Yes ma'am." Henry replied. He turned to Jasper and Maggie and added quietly, "Wait for me."

They nodded and walked out the door. Miss Hazel followed them and shut the door behind them, locking it. Henry felt that something was amiss, but he couldn't figure out a way to get out of the room.

"I see you survived being shot." Miss Hazel commented ruefully.

"Wh..What?" her statement caught him by surprise.

"I'm glad you're ok." Miss Hazel walked toward him. Henry backed up without looking at where he was going. "If you had died that would have made my job that much harder."

"What are you talking about?" Henry asked as he backed into the wall.

Miss Hazel didn't answer, instead she just kept walking forward. Henry glanced around the room quickly and what he saw made his breath catch in his throat. From the open window, three men climbed into the room and started making there way to where Miss Hazel had Henry cornered.

"It really is a shame," Miss Hazel commented, "You're such a bright boy."

Henry didn't let her say anything else. Moving quickly, he twisted around her and took off for the door.

"Stop him!" Miss Hazel ordered.

One of the men was close enough and grabbed Henry's arm. Henry grabbed the man's arm and flipped him and took off to the door. Before he could reach the handle, one of the men grabbed him and threw him to the floor. The other two men grabbed Henry and dragged him to his feet.

"Jasper!" Henry yelled out before they could shut his mouth. "Maggie!"

"Shut him up!" Miss Hazel ordered.

Henry knew he had to get free. Taking a deep breath, Henry kicked out at the man who wasn't holding him and caught him in the stomach, doubling him over. While the two men who held him were surprised, Henry slipped his arms out and delivered to quick punches and started running to the door.

"Jasp..." he started to yell when something hit him in the back of the head and he felt himself falling.

The last thing he saw before the world went black was the door opening. Then all he saw was black.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Sorry for the wait! But here's the 7th chapter! :D Thanks for all the reviews and I'm glad ya'll are enjoying it! This chapter would have been up sooner, but I went camping this weekend. :) Anyways, on to the chapter! :D**_

_Chapter 7_

"Wonder why Miss Hazel wants to see Henry." Maggie whispered as they walked out the door.

Jasper was about to reply when the door shut behind them.

"Did you shut the door?" he asked.

"No," Maggie replied, "Did you?"

"No." Jasper looked down the hall before leaning against the door, putting his right ear close to the door.

Maggie caught on quick at what he was doing and leaned on the door beside him. They could hear Miss Hazel talking, but they couldn't make out any words, just mumbles. There was silence as Miss Hazel stopped talking, but then the two eavesdroppers heard something crash to the floor.

Maggie and Jasper glanced at each other and kept listening.

"Jasper! Maggie!" They heard Henry yell.

Jasper's hand instantly went down to the door knob.

"She locked it!" he exclaimed after he rattled it.

"Move over." Maggie commanded as she pulled a hair pin out of her hair.

Working quickly, Maggie worked on picking the lock. It took less then thirty seconds for her to get the door open. As they opened the door and looked inside, they saw Henry on the floor,not moving, with Miss Hazel above him holding a pistol. She looked up at the door and saw them.

Maggie and Jasper's eyes were wide as they looked from Henry to Miss Hazel. Maggie snapped out of it first and looked around the rest of the room and spotted the three men. She grabbed Jasper and dragged him out into the hallway and started to slam the door shut when Miss Hazel stopped her in her tracks.

"Shut that door, Margaret," she said coldly, "And come back in here, both of you, or I shoot Henry here."

Maggie and Jasper looked inside the room at Miss Hazel. She held the cocked pistol in her hand and had pointed it at the unconscious Henry's back.

"From this distance," she smiled coldly, "I can't possibly miss. Now, both of you get in here and shut the door."

Maggie and Jasper did as they were told. Neither were going to risk Henry's life.

"What are we gonna do with them, Kate?" a man with black hair asked gruffly, rubbing his stomach.

"We have no choice," Miss Hazel, Kate, replied. "They're coming with us."

"But we just need him!" a man with red hair argued. "He's the key to getting his parents to do what we want!"

"Shut up, Miles!" Miss Hazel barked. "Just do what you have to do."

The three men nodded and moved toward Jasper and Maggie. They backed up to the door, each praying someone would come to the room. As the men drew closer, Jasper found his voice.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked Miss Hazel.  
"You'll know soon enough." was the reply,

Pistols had appeared in the men's hands as they got closer. Maggie and Jasper didn't stay still as the men kept walking toward them. They knew there was no hope of escaping, but it never hurt to try.

They didn't make it far before each were hit in the head and thrown into blackness.

"Now how are we going to get to the car?" Miles complained.

"Same way we were going to get Griffin out here." Kate replied. "Carry them."

"All three of them?" The blond haired man asked incredulously. "Why can't we just leave those two," he motioned at Maggie and Jasper, then at Henry. "And take him like planned?"

"Because they saw all of us, Rob!" Kate explained through clenched teeth. "Besides, that boy, Jasper Bartlett, is Griffin's cousin. And that girl is there close friend. If Griffin and his parents don't do as we want, we have them to use against them!"

"Good idea, Boss." the black haired man said.

"Thank you, Jeremy." Kate smiled at him, "Now get them out of here! I'll meet you all at the plane at six."

The three men sprang into action, each of them taking one captive. They were all strong men and easily carried the three teens out the window and down to where they had a car hidden and waiting.

Kate Hazel watched the three disappear before turning back to her classroom. She walked over to the door and made sure it was locked and then shut the blinds on the window.

'Now,' she thought to herself. 'To make this room look like a huge fight happened.'

She started overturning desks and threw papers and books everywhere. She smiled at her handiwork. Now for the icing on the cake. She opened her briefcase and pulled out a small vial with red liquid in it. The label said "Fake blood". Grinning slyly, Kate Hazel applied the fake blood to her face like she would apply makeup. She ripped the sleeve off her shirt, and sprinkled blood on her pants. She took one shoe off and threw it across the room. Then picking up a book, she threw it at the window of the door, screamed, and fell to the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

_**:) Thanks for the kind reviews! Glad ya'll are enjoying the story. :)**_

_Chapter 8_

The janiter had found Miss Hazel on the floor of her destroyed classroom in a state of shock. He had immediatly called the police, then Principal Bartlett and they had all gathered into the room and were waiting impatiently for Miss Hazel to calm down and tell them what happened.

"Please, ma'am," the police chief begged. "Tell us what happened."

Miss Hazel nodded, tears spilling from her eyes.

"I... I had held three students back after class," she stuttered.

"Which students?" the chief inturrupted, clicking a pen and getting ready to write on a pad.

"Magdalen Winnock, Jasper Bartlett, and Henry Griffin." Miss Hazel sniffed. "I held them back because all three had written very good essay's that I had assigned. They were about to leave when six men came in from the window."

"What did these men look like?" the chief inturrupted again.

"They wore all black and had there faces covered." Miss Hazel answered.

"And what happened then?" the chief asked as he wrote in the pad.

"I...I don't know." Miss Hazel was on the brink of tears again. "One of the men grabbed me and he... he hit me. I must have blacked out because when I came to the men were gone with the children. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to scream and throw a book to get someone's attention." SHe looked over at Principle Bryon Bartlett. "I'm sorry Principle, I didn't mean to break the window."

"Who ares about the window?" Mr. Bartlett almost yelled. "Where did those men go with my son and nephew and there friend?"

"I... I don't know." Miss Hazel said before breaing into tears.

"I'm sorry, Kate." Mr. Bartlett sighed. "I shouldn't be blaiming you. You had nothing to do with there kidnapping."

"Miss Hazel, I think it would be a good idea for you to go on home." the police chief said.

"Thank you sir." Miss Hazel said, walkign to the door. "I'm really sorry Principle Bartlett."

Then she was out the door and no one saw her smile at her job well done.

"What are you going to do?" Mr. Bartlett asked the police chief.

"We're going to do all we can to find the children." the chief insisted. "The kidnappers couldn't have gotten far. We'll start looking and send out an alert immediatly."

Mr. Bartlett just nodded and walked over to the wall. He didn't look around the room, didn't look at the mess. He just put his head against the wall and let tears slip out as he thought about his son, nephew, and their friend kidnapped and going through who knew what. He straigtened up and wiped the tears from his eyes. He knew what he had to do. First, he had to go talk to Maggie's and Henry's parents. Then he was going to do all in his power to find them, help or no help.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Sorry it has taken so long for this chapter. Honestly, this chapter has been the hardest for me to write for some reason. Kept arguing and changing things. But here it is! :D Thanks for all the nice reviews, guys! :)**_

**_ xXxZaraxXx, thank you for telling me her name is Margaret, not Magdalene. I have only seen the pilot episode twice, and each time I had people in the room talkign so I was unable to hear that part. Thank you for telling me. :) I think I changed every time I wrote her name wrong. :) _**

**_ And now, on with the chapter! :D Hopefully, more will be up soon. :)_**

_Chaper 9_

Henry opened his eyes and thought he had gone blind. When he had blinked a few times, he realized that he was just in a dark room. He sat up quickly, then regretted it as he got dizzy and fell back down. He waited a minute before sitting back up, slow this time, and let his eyes slowly grow accustomed to the dark. As he pulled himself to a full sitting position, he realized he was leaning against the wall. He also realized he wasn't alone as he heard someone groan.

Reaching out with his hand, Henry came in contact with a lump next to him. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt something touch his back.

"H...Hello?" he whispered, his voice cracking.

"Henry?" the voice came from behind him.

"Maggie?" he exclaimed.

A hand gripped his shoulder.

"Are you all right, Henry?" Maggie asked.

"I'm fine." Henry replied. "Just a headache. What happened? Where are we?"

"Miss Hazel kidnapped us." Maggie answered. "As to where we are, I have no clue. How's Jasper?"

"I got a killer headache." Jasper muttered from near Henry's hand. "And I really wish you two wouldn't talk so loud."

"What are you two doing here?" Henry asked.

He could remember up to when he had been knocked out and Jasper and Maggie hadn't been in the room.

"What do you think?" Maggie laughed. "We heard you scream out so we came looking for you. Things didn't exactly go right."

"Explain please." Henry said, leaning up against the wall.

"She had the door locked," Jasper started as he sat up. "And Maggie did some weird lock picking thing and opened the door."

All three found it strange to be talking when none of them could see in the pitch blackness of the room.

"When we walked into the room," Maggie continued. "Miss Hazel was standing over you with a pistol. When we made a run for it, she pointed it at you and threatend to shoot you if we didn't go into the room and shut the door."

"You should have let her shoot me!" Henry inturrupted.

"Henry!" Maggie scolded. "How can you even say that?"

"She was planning on killing me anyway." Henry sighed. "At least that way I would have been the only one to die."

"Don't even say that, Henry!" Maggie slapped his arm.

"What do we do now?" Jasper asked.

No one answered him. Henry looked around, though he still couldn't see well. He stood slowly, getting dizzy as he did. He put his hand against the wall to steady himself. When he felt steady enough, he took a few steps forward. Almost instantly, he ran into the other wall. He turned the other way and had the same result.

"I think we're in a closet." he announced.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.

"I mean," Henry explained. "That this room is to small to be a full room. So, it might be a closet."

"If it's a closet," Maggie said slowly as she stood up. "Then shouldn't there be a..."

She was cut off by one of the "walls" opening and spilling bright light into the small room. The three friends were instnatly blinded by the light.

"Ah, good. You're awake." a man's voice that they didn't recognize said smoothly from the door. "Boys."

By then, sight had returned and Henry, Jasper, and Maggie could see the three men who had kidnapped them walk into the room. Jasper struggled to his feet, but had to lean against the wall as a dizzy spell overtook him. The man with red hair quickly grabbed him and dragged him out the door.

"Come along you two," the black haired man ordered. "And you won't be hurt."

"Hurt more, don't you mean?" Henry asked sarcastically.

"Come on girly." the blonde haired man ignored his partner and Henry and reached for Maggie.

Maggie reacted quickly. She grabbed his hand and yanekd hard, sending the man to the floor. Henry was right behind her as he kicked out and sent the blackhaired man to the floor. They had completly forgotten about the other man at the door as they stepped over the two men on the floor and came face to face with a pistol.

"Well done, Henry, Maggie." the man holding the pistol congratulated. He was an older man with gray hair. "But you should know that you will never escape, so do not try any thing like that again or things will have to get ugly." He glanced down at the two men on the floor and snarled, "Jeremy! Rob! Get up! Now!"

The two men struggled to there feet, seeming more shocked then hurt. Instnatly, the grabbed Henry and Maggie. The blond haired man gently grasped Maggie's arm, not wanting to hurt her, but the black haired man didn't have the same care. He grabbed Henry's arm and twisted it behind his back, holding him so as to prevent any possible escape.

"This way." the man in front of them smiled, a cold, sly smile as he put this pistol inside his coat.

The black haired man pushed Henry in front of him, letting his arm untwist slightly to walk. The blond haired man gently lead Maggie out after them. They were lead down a really small hallway and then, to there surprise, into the cabin of a plane. Henry instantly glanced toward the window and, to his dismay, saw that they were flying.

With a slight frown, he turned and studied the inside of the cabin. It wasn't fancy, or even comfortable. There were crates stacked and tied to the walls toward the back. In the front where a few seats, but only one looked remotly comfortable. In that seat sat Miss Kate Hazel. To her right was Jasper, still being held by the red haired man.

"Looks like you didn't hit Griffin to hard, Kate." the man with the pistol commented. "He's still alive at least."

"I didn't hit him hard enough to kill him, Dad." she said as she stood. "What use would he be to us if he was dead?"

"Who are you?" Maggie asked before any one could say anything else.

"That's none of your business girly!" the blond haired man snapped.

"Now, now Rob," the older man inturrupted, "What harm could it do?" He turned back to Maggie. "My name is Jeff Hazel. You already know my daughter, Kate. This is my son, Jeremy." He pointed to the black haired man. "And these are my newphews, Miles and Rob."

Jeff grabbed Maggie's arm and led her over to where Jasper was, leaving Henry alone with Rob and Jeremy man. Jeremy let go of his arm, but the two men stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking his way back.

"What do you want with us?" Henry asked.

"There's no 'us', Henry." Kate smiled, walking toward him. Henry backed up into the two men who pushed him forward. "Maggie and Jasper aren't needed. Just you. Remember that."

Then she walked back to stand beside her father.

"What do you mean by that?" Jasper asked.

"My daughter means," the old man answered as he looked at Jasper, "That if Henry here don't do as we say, then you two are indespensible."

"If it's me you want, then take me." Henry exclaiemd in shock. "But leave them out of this."

"It's to late for that." the man replied. "We are already on our way to Columbia. There is no turning back."

"Columbia?" Jasper exclaimed.

"What's in Columbia?" Maggie asked.

"That, little one," Kate Hazel's father said with a sly smile. "Is for us to know, and you to find out." He looked over at the men. "Jeremy, hold Henry there." The black haired man instantly grabbed Henry's arms and held him tight. "Miles, go get the rope."

"I already have it, Dad." the red haired man held up a rope.

"Rob," that left the blond haired man. "Help your brother tie up these two."

Rob was quick to go over and join Miles in tieing Jasper's and Maggie's hands behind there backs. Henry was left untied, but Jeremy held him tight.

"Get their laptop, Kate dear." the man commanded.

Kate nodded and reached into one of the seats and pulled out a small laptop and handed it to her father.

"Hey!" Jasper exclaimed as he recognized the computer as his. "How did you get that computer?"

Jeff opened it and put it on top of a crate that had been turned into a table. "Now, get on and talk to your parents."

"Why?" Henry asked, not moving toward the keyboard.

"Because if you don't," the man pulled the pistol out of his coat and aimed it at Jasper. "Then your cousin dies."

"All right! I'll do it!" Henry exclaiemd quickly as he sat down on the seat in front of the camera and went to sign in.

"That's better." Jeff grinned, but didn't put the gun up. "Move away from the camera." He said to Kate and Jeremy. He looked back to Henry and added. "Don't say anything to warn them or you all die."

Henry nodded and pulled the thing up so that he could connect with his parents.

"Don't do it, Henry!" Maggie suddenly said. "Don't do what they say! You know they're just going to kil..." she was cut off as Rob through his hand over her mouth.

"Listen to her Henry!" Jasper finished for her. "They are gonna kill us!"  
Miles didn't put his hand over his mouth, he just hit him over the head with his fist. Jasper fell to his knees, but he was far from immoble. Though his hands were tied behind his back, Jasper reached back carefully and grabbed Miles' egs and yanked him to the floor. He jumped up quickl, but was sent to his knees again as he was hit in the back of the head with a book by Kate. He sat there shaking his head on his knees.

"Jasper!" Henry exclaimed as he jumped up, but he was thrown back into the seat by Jeremy who kept his hand firmly on Henry's shoulder.

Maggie was saying something, but her words were muffled by Rob's hand. By then, Miles had got back to his feet and he hoisted Jasper to his feet none to gently.

"Gag them! Quick!" his father ordered.

Miles and Rob were quick to find a piece of cloth and tie it around Maggie's and Jasper's mouths.

"Might as well tie them together while you're at it." Jeff continued as he glanced at the computer. "That way you don't have to hold on to them every second."

"Here." Kate said, tossing her brothers a rope.

Catching it, Rob quickly wound it around Maggie and Jasper and tied it tight.

"Henry?" the female voice came from the computer.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed as he turned around to face the computer screen.

"Henry, who are those people?" his Dad asked.

Henry realized at about the same time his kidnappers did that they hadn't gotten out from in front of the webcam.

"Mom! Dad!" Henry exclaimed. "Whatever they want! Don't do it! Don't do it!"

That was all he was able to yell before Jeremy clamped his hand over his mouth and dragged him out of his chair and to the floor. Jeremy pinned him to the ground with one hand and held his mouth with the other.

"Henry!" he heard his Mom and Dad yell as he fought to get free of Jeremy.

Henry quickly brought his feet up and kicked Jeremy who just grunted and moved out of range. Henry worked on slipping away and he would have if Miles hadn't come over and grabbed him as well. With both of them on him, Henry had no chance of getting away.

"You let my son go right now!" he heard his Dad yell from the computer.

Jeremy still had his hand over Henry's mouth, but Henry bit down hard on the hand, causing Jeremy to yell in pain and let go of Henry.

"Whatever they want! Don't do it!" he yelled before a gag was forced into his mouth.

His hands were forced behind his back and roughly tied. They dragged him to his feet and lead him, fighting, over to where Jasper and Maggie were tied up on the floor. Rob had untied the rope binding Maggie and Jasper together and Henry was thrown down next to them and the rope retied around all three of them.

"You let my son go, or else." Henry's dad was threatning from the computer screen.

"If you want to see your boy in once piece again, ." Jeff Hazel said calmly, making sure that the Griffin's could see the gun in his hand. "Then you will be quiet and listen to me."

"What do you want with our son?" Mrs. Griffin asked quietly.

"Nothing." Jeff replied with a shrug. "Him and his friends are just assurance that you two will do as we say."

"Friends?" Mr. Griffin asked.

Jeff turned around and nodded at his nephews. Miles and Rob pulled the three teens to there feet and pushed them so that they were in the camera.

"You remember your newphew, Jasper, of course." Jeff said casually. "And I'm sure Henry has mentioned his friend Maggie before."

"What do you want with them?" Mr. Griffin asked.

"You'll find out when you meet us in Columbia."

"Columbia?" Mrs. Griffin repeated. "What's in Columbia?"

"Your son and his friends." Jeff replied. "Now, I know for a fact that you are in Brazil. If you leave swiftly, you should be in Columbia by tonite. We will meet you tomorrow at the Columbian airport." He paused and cocked the gun and aimed it over toward the captives. "If you aren't there, then one of them dies." He paused again, thinking. "Make that, if you aren't there, then we will send you one of your son's fingers."

"You animal!" Mr. Griffin exclaimed before saying something else in a different language. Henry's eyebrows hsot up as he understood what his dad was saying.

"Just be there." with that, Jeff logged off.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Thanks for all the reviews guys! I'm glad you like this story so much. :) I'm sorry this chapter has taken forever to get up, but I honestly got stuck on this chapter and the next few as well. Hopefully I'll be able to settle my thoughts and get the next chapter up soon! :D Now, onto the story! :)**_

_Chapter 10_

Mr. Bartlett left the school shortly after Miss Hazel. He had thought about calling Maggie's parents, but he had decided against it, figuring they would rather hear it from him in person rather then over the phone.

It was almost six as he pulled into the Winnock's house. There was a car in the driveway, and Mr. Bartlett pulled up behind it. He turned the car off and took a deep breath before getting out. Slowly, he walked to the front door and knocked. Mr. Winnock was at the door almost immediately. It wasn't until then that Mr. Bartlett realized exactly how late it was. Maggie's parents were probably worried about her, especially since she hadn't called to tell them if she would be out late or not.

"Mr. Bartlett, can I help you?" Mr. Winnock asked.  
"I'm here about Maggie." he said somberly.

"Is she all right?" Mr. Winnock asked hurriedly.

"I'm not sure." Mr. Bartlett searched for words to explain, but he found none.

"What do you mean you're not sure?" Mrs. Winnock appeared behind her husband.

"It's a long story." Mr. Bartlett sighed. "I'm not sure I understand it myself."

"Please come in Bryan." Mr. Winnock invited, stepping aside.

Mr. Bartlett nodded and walked inside. The three sat in the living room and Mr. Bartlett told them the story that Miss Hazel had told him and the police.

"Maggie has been kidnapped?" Mr. Winnock. "Why weren't we notified sooner?"

"I was just told myself an hour ago." Mr. Bartlett replied. "Miss Hazel was in a state of shock when she was found."

"But why didn't the kidnappers take her too?" Mrs. Winnock asked. "Surely she must have seen them. That's reason enough to take her as well the Maggie and the boys."

Mr. Bartlett was speechless. That was something he hadn't thought of.

"If they left her," Mr. Winnock said after he glanced at his wife, "Then maybe she is somehow mixed up in this."

"Or maybe they had there hands full with the kids." Mr. Bartlett replied. "I mean, Henry would have been putting up a fight, and I don't think Maggie and Jasper woud have just stood still. Maybe the kidnappers had there hands full with them and didn't want to mess with Miss Hazel."

"But you said she was knocked out on the floor." Mrs. Winnock said thinking fast. "She would have put up no fight. It would have been easier to take her then to take the kids. And there were six men, that's more then enough to take them all."

"Unless Miss Hazel helped them." Mr. Winnock finished. "Honey, you're a genius."

Mr. Bartlett stood up.

"I have to talk to Henry's parents." He said as he headed for the door.

"Do you need to call them?" Mrs. Winnock asked as she motioned to the phone.

"No, they don't have phones that I know of." Mr. Bartlett said. "Henry talks to them through webcams."

"We have that." Mr. Winnock said. "You can use ours if you want."

"I think I'll take you up on that." Mr. Bartlett agreed.

Mr. Winnock hurried to the computer and turned it on. In a matter of minutes, Henry's parents were on the screen. They looked nervous and scared.

"Bryan, what a surprise." Mrs. Griffin said with a weak smile. "We were expacting Henry."

"I'm afraid that's why I contacted you, sis." Mr. Bartlett sighed. "Henry's been kidnapped. As has Jasper and there friend."

"Maggie." Mr. Griffin whispered.

"How do you know my daughter?" Mrs. Winnock asked, moving beside Mr. Bartlett.

"Uh, Henry has mentioned her, um before." Mrs. Griffin stuttered.

"Rosie," Mr. Bartlett said sternly. "You have never been good at lying. You already knew Henry was kidnapped, didn't you."

"THey contacted us." Mr. Griffin said nervously, glancing around. "We have to be in Columbia by noon tomorrow."

"Don't worry about Jasper, Bryan." Mrs. Griffin offered a weak smile. "Nothing is going to happen to him, or Henry or Maggie either."

"Bryan, don't do anything rash." Mr. Griffin warned. "If we cooperate with the kidnappers, nothing will happen to them. But if anyone other then us is at the airport, they may kill them."

With that, they logged off.

"Columbia?" Mr. Winnock repeated. "What's in Columbia?"

"Our children." Mr. Bartlett said as he walked away from the computer.

"What are we going to do?" Mrs. Winnock asked.

"We wait." Mr. Bartlett sighed. "Till after tomorrow. Then we go to Columbia."

"Wait?" Mr. Winnock exclaimed. "Those maniacs have my daughter, your son and nephew, and we are just going to wait for them to be killed?"

"Obviously the kidnappers need them alive." Mr. Bartlett explained. "If not, they would be dead already."  
"How do you know they're not?" Mr. Winnock asked.

"My sister would not have been that nervous if Henry was dead already." Mr. Bartlett turned around at the door. "I think that the kidnappers are holding Henry so that his parents will do what the kidnappers want and they are holding Maggie and Jasper so that Henry will do what they want as well."

"We'll wait." Mrs. Winnock struggled to say. "But we are going to Columbia with you."

Mr. Bartlett nodded.

"I'll call you before I leave."

Then he walked out the door and headed to his empty house.


	11. Chapter 11

_**I'm soooo sorry that this chapter has taken forever. I'm still stuck. I know what I want to happen, its just finding the words down that's giving me trouble at the moment. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Hopefully the next one will be up sooner.**_

_Chapter 11_

Jeff Hazel slammed the laptop down as soon as he logged off. He spun toward the three captives tied up on the floor.

"I told you not to say anything, or you would pay for it." He seethed at Henry.

Henry said something, but it was muffled by the gag.

"Remove his gag." Jeff ordered.

Jeremy was there instantly to untie the gag.

"Well what did you expect me to say?" Henry asked after the gag was removed. "Hey Mom and Dad everything is fine?"

Jeff didn't reply. He covered the few steps toward Henry and slapped him hard across the face.

"You do what we say," he seethed. "Or you are punished."

He brought his hand back to slap Henry again, when a voice cut him off.

"Father." it was Kate. "Don't you think it would just be simpler to leave them in the closet? That way they are out of our hair and also punished?"

"Punished how?" Rob asked. "It's just a closet!"

"Well," Kate explained, "Being left in the dark for hours can drive people insane. And if they were gagged and tied, they would have no way to talk and that would also drive them crazy."

"But we don't want them crazy," Miles said in confusion. "We want them punished."

"If you were in a dark room and couldn't talk wouldn't you feel punished?" Jeremy asked.

Miles' mouth formed an "o" shape as he realized what his cousins were saying.

"That sounds like a good idea," Jeff nodded approvingly. "The next ten hours in silence and dark should make them easier to handle."

"Should we keep them tied together?" Rob asked.

"No!" Jeff snapped. "They might get untied that way. Tie them separately."

"You won't get away with this!" Henry exclaimed. "Mom and Dad will never do what you tell them to!"

"I wouldn't say that, Henry." Jeff sneered. "A parent will do anything you tell them too if their child is in danger." He bent down and looked Henry in the eye. "And that is exactly what you are. A child in danger."

Henry opened his mouth to reply that he wasn't a child, but Jeff stuffed the gag back in his mouth before he could say anything.

"Take them back to the closet." he ordered as he stood.

Rob, Miles, and Jeremy untied the rope holding the three teenagers together, but they grabbed them before they could get away. Jeremy lead Henry to the room and threw him in where he landed on the ground hard. Jasper, then Maggie were thrown in on top of him. Before the three could jump up, the door was slammed shut and the trio were plunged into silent darkness.

The three managed to get untangled from the floor and each leaned back against the wall. The silence was deafening.

Because of the darkness they couldn't see each other to try and help each other get free, they couldn't even talk about how to get free because of the gags. Henry struggled against the ropes. Before they had tied his hands, he had managed to hold them apart just a little to create a small amount of slack. He just hoped it would be enough. He fumbled for a few minutes before managing to loosen his ties just a bit more. After ten minutes had passed, he was free. He removed the gag quickly.

"Jasper! Maggie! I'm free!" he whispered. "Make a noise so I can untie you!"

He heard a bump and grunt to his left first and he slowly moved toward the sound. He knew it was Jasper when he felt his cousin's feet. Moving a bit faster, Henry found Jasper's hands and untied him.

"Maggie?" Henry said.

She thumped her feet on the floor to his right. Henry quickly found her hands and had her untied.

"How did you get loose?" she asked as she removed the gag.

"I had made a little slack when they tied me," Henry explained.

"Well what do we do now?" Jasper asked. "We're on a plane going to South America!"

"I guess we wait." Maggie said as she leaned back against the wall.  
"Wait?" Jasper was clearly upset.

"They'll expect us to still be tied up," Henry commented. "So when they come to get us, we can turn the tables and get away."

"So what do we do for the next ten hours?" Jasper asked with a sigh.

No one answered him. He sighed again and leaned back against the wall. Within five minutes, the three teens had closed there eyes and were taking a nap.

In the ten hours that followed, the three talked about their chances to escape and slept. The plane ride seemed to take forever. But finaly, the three felt the plane starting to land.

"When they open the door," Henry whispered as they all got to their feet. "Let them walk in and look for us before throwing them in."  
"Then run for it and pray they don't pull guns." Jasper said sarcastically.

Henry put his ear to the door and listened.

"They're coming." he said after a moment.

Each of them were alert and ready as they jumped on either side of the door. They had their eyes halfway shut and so when the lights switched on they were not as affected. The door opened soon, but it was opened cautiously. Slowly it was opened a bit more until it was almost completely open.

"What? Where are they?" Miles said as he walekd inside, scratching his head.

"Would you grab one of them already?" Rob barked from behind him.

"They're gone!" Miles said louder.

"What do you mean gone?" Rob asked as he walked in as well.

It was then that the three teens made there move. Henry jumped from behind the door and tackled Rob to the ground. Jasper was right behind him tackling Miles. Maggie grabbed the door and slammed it shut as Henry and Jasper followed her out. She locked it quickly and the three turned.

"Which way?" Jasper asked looking around.

"This way!" Henry, use to planes of all sizes, said.

He lead the way down a very small hallway and stopped at a door on the right.

"It's the emergency exit." he explained as he opened the door. He stepped to the side and held the door open. "Hurry!"

Maggie went first, followed by Jasper.

"We have to get out of here!" Jasper exclaimed as Henry followed them down and shut the door.

Henry looked around and quickly formed an idea.

"We must be inland." he noted. "There isn't a smell of salt in the air. If we get a plane or a car or something and head west we should reach a city."

"So we're going to hijack a plane or a car?" Maggie asked in amazement.

"Do you have a better idea?" Henry asked.

Maggie shook her head.

"The kids are loose!" a voice suddenly yelled from the inside of the plane.

"Run!" Jasper said, his eyes wide.

The three took off toward a small outbuilding where a car was parked.

"There they are!" It was Kate who screamed from the window. "Quick! They're getting away!"

The three running teens heard the plane doors open and the sound of more running feet coming after them. They were almost to the building when Maggie suddenly fell to the ground. Henry and Jasper stopped and turned quickly. The men running after them were getting close to Maggie who struggled to get to her feet. Henry quickly ran back, passing Maggie, and jumped Jeremy, the closest guy to her. Jasper ran and helped Maggie to her feet, but her left leg started to give out.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked as he wrapped her arm around his shoulder.  
"It's my ankle." She gasped. "I think it's sprained."

Jasper turned his head and saw Miles and Rob trying to grab Henry who was fighting back with everything he had.

"Do you think you can get to the building?" Jasper asked hurriedly.

"I think so. What are you..." she was cut off by Jasper taking her arm off his shoulder and helping to steady her, before he turned around and ran back to help his cousin.

Maggie just stood there for a moment as she watched Jasper throw himself at Miles and join in the fight. Maggie took a deep breath before limping as fast as she could toward the building. She spun around when she heard someone running after her. She had hoped that Henry and Jasper had gotten away, but her hopes were crushed when she saw Kate Hazel running after her.

Maggie knew she would never be able to outrun her with a sprained ankle, so she set her feet so that she was putting most of her weight on her good foot. Maggie quickly noticed that not one of there kidnappers was armed. From what had happened in the classroom and on the plane, there should be at least two guns in the group, probably more. But she didn't see any now.

"Margaret." Kate said in a forced sweet voice. "You're hurt. Come along dear and lets get that ankle fixed."

She was within reaching range and Maggie didn't wait for Kate to make teh first move. Maggie's hand shot out, grabbing Kate's, and threw her to the side. Kate, to Maggie's surprise, managed to stay on her feet, but she was thrown off balance and to the side. Before she could recover, Maggie sent a well aimed punch to Kate's jaw. Still, Kate did not fall. She stumbled back out of Maggie's reach and waited as she recovered.

"I was going to go easy on you," Kate spit venomously, "But you can forget that now."

Maggie, not sure what to expect, got into a defensive position and waited. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Henry and Jasper fighting, but she could tell that the three men were getting the upper hand. She gasped as she saw each of them receive blows that sent them to the ground.

Kate saw that her opponant was momentairly distracted. She used that to her advantage as she ran back within range and threw a right hook, hitting Maggie in the jaw, sending her to the ground, more in shock then surprise. Kate quickly picked her up and pinned her arms behind her back.

Maggie struggled, but she couldn't shake the teacher loose. The mroe she struggled, the tighter the grip became. When Maggie saw that Henry and Jasper were being held with there arms pinned as well, she quit struggling.

"Surely you didn't think you could get away." Jeff chided.

In his hand he held a small piece of bamboo. The end had been sharpened so it was pointed, like a spear. He walked to where Jeremy held Henry. Jeff hit his lef hand with the stick lightly as he stood in front of Henry, threatening him without words.

"I warned you, Henry," he said slowly, dropping his hands. "I warned you that if you didn't do what we say, then you would be punished. Escaping deinatly goes against what we say."

Then, with a blink of an eye, Jeff brought the bamboo stick up and hit Henry across the face with it. The stick was sharper then it looked and, along with a red welt appearing, small cuts started to bleed from Henry's cheek. The blow was hard and would have knocked him over had Jeremy not held him up. It hurt bad, but Henry bit his lip and didn't let even a groan escape.

"Tough little boy, aren't you?" Jeff grinned evily, emphasizing the word 'little'.

Henry had to bite his tongue to keep from lashing out at the man. He knew that if he said a word, he would just be hit again, and this time he may hit Jasper or Maggie too. He wouldn't let his friend's come to harm so he kept his mouth shut.

"Nothing to say to that, Henry?" Jeff laughed, hiding his surprise at the boy's strength and will power. "That's good. You're learning all ready." He turned and walked back to the plane. "Tie them to the pole over there." he ordered, motioning toward a wooden pole with a faded orange wind sock blowing in the wind tied to the top. "Then come back to the plane and start unloading. I'm going to contact the Griffins."

"You're wasting your time!" Henry yelled as he was shoved forward. "They won't come! They'll get the police after you! We have friends here!"

"Your friends have been taken care of." Jeff called nonchalantly over his shoulder before climbing into the plane.

**_I hope you enjoyed the chapter. In parting, I have only two more notes. One, I have never been on a plane, so I don't know if there would be an emergency exit like I described, or even if there is a plane like I described. And second, I have never been to Columbia nor have I ever studied it. All I know is what I can find on google and google images. So when I start describing where they are in the next chapter, please be mindful of that fact. I'll do my best to describe the place like it is, but I can't guarentee it will be exactly like the real life Columbia. :) Until next chapter. :) :)_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Hey, I'm really sorry this chapter has been forever in getting up (and that its so short) but I've been busy and had a case of writers block on this story. But watching the ruby episode and the magition episode broke the writers block, I think. Thank you for all the nice comments. :) And thanks for the ideas and suggestions, the suggestions have really helped a lot and I know what I want to happen now. :) All that is left is to get it out of my head and on my computer and then get it on here! :) Hopefully it won't take as long, but it depends on how busy I am. :) Anyways, thanks for all the reviews and for liking this story. :) **_

_**So I've been watching the forums and have learned that Henry's parents names are actually "Rosemary and Zafer", so I went back and changed them all. :) Just thought I would mention that. Now on to the chapter! :)**_

_Chapter 12_

"Are you sure you're going, Rosie?" Zafer Griffin asked his wife for hte thirtieth time as they drove to the airport.

"Zafer, if you ask me one more time, I'm going to go and get Henry on my own!" Rosemary Griffin threatened.

That shut her husband up. Both were worried sick about there son and his friends. The two were silent all the way to the air port, each letting there imagination run wild over things that might be happening to Henry and his friends. They were on the plane and seated when Rosie broke the silence.

"Did we do the right thing?"

"What?" Zafer asked.

"Did we do the right thing sending Henry to America?" Rosie asked quietly.

"Honey, you know we didn't have a choice." Zafer put his hand on his wife's shoulder. "If Henry had stayed with us he would have wound up in serious trouble or hurt or worse!"

"But he's in serious trouble now!" Rosie seemed to be on the brink of tears. "Henry's life is on the line and we weren't there to protect him!"

"Rosemary," Zafer turned his wife's face toward his. "Henry isn't a child anymore, he's almost a man. Sooner or later we're going to have to accept that he can take care of himself. He's not an average teenager, after all."

Rose sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.

"You're right." she said quietly, closing her eyes. "But I'm just so worried!"

"Me too." Zafer whispered so she couldn't hear. "Me too."

"Mr. and Mrs. Griffin?" a man asked from the isle.

Rosie sat up in her chair and looked into the isle.

"Yes." She said before gasping.

The man in the isle wore normal clothes, but with a long jacket. Poking out from the jacket, Rosie and Zafer could see the barrel of a pistol poking out.

"Come with me, please." the man said in a low voice. "Or your son will be punished."

Rosie took only one glance at her husband before standing and following the man, who obviously knew that they would follow him whether he pointed a gun at them or not. Rosie and Zafer played right into the man's hands. They followed him out the door of hte airplane and to the bottom of the steps where the man spun around to face them.  
"Mr. and Mrs. Griffin," he said in a mock polite voice. "Would you like to see your son?"  
"What have you done to him?" Zafer snapped, fearing the worse.  
"Absolutly nothing," the man chuckled darkly. "But if you don't do exactly as I say, you'll never see him or his friends alive again."

Zafer lost his cool. He leaped forward, his hands reaching out to grab the man. He never made it. As the man distracted the couple, neither had noticed the men sneaking up behind them until it was to late. With two swift blows, the Griffin's were knocked uncounsicous.

"Quick," the man in the long coat ordered the other two men. "Get them to our plane before anyone comes over here."

The two men, both of whom's skin was dark and looked like they were from the Amazon, quickly and easily lifted the unconsious Griffins and took them to a small plane at the end of the runway. Taking one last look around, the remaining man put the gun in a small shoulder holster and walked toward the plane.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Thanks for all the reviews guys! :) I'm really happy that ya'll are enjoying this story so much. Your reviews have given me some ideas and some of them have even been put in this chapter. :) This chapter is longer, and (I hope) more interesting then the last few have been. :) Still working on the next few chapters so hang on for them! I'm really busy at the moment, so I don't know how much time I'll have to work on this story, but I will work on it! Now, with out further ado, chapter 13! :)**_

_Chapter 13_

The sun beat down mercilessly on the three teenagers. Henry, Jasper, and Maggie had been tied tightly to the wooden wind sock pole. The ropes around the three were tight and, despite the small amount of slack, they were unable to get free.

"Any bright ideas, Henry?" Jasper asked.

"What?" Henry asked in confusion.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?" Jasper sighed.

"Oh." Henry replied. "No."

"No?" Jasper and Maggie said in unison.

"Not yet at least." Henry said.

The three fell silent. The sun was hot and there throats dry. Already they had been tied to the pole for an hour, with no way of knowing how long they would remain tied. Thirty more minutes of silence passed when the roar of an airplane suddenly filled the air.

"An airplane?" Jasper asked. "I thought this was a deserted airport."

"Deserted to everyone but kidnappers." Maggie commented.

Henry didn't say anything. His thoughts were on his parents, and he was praying that Maggie was wrong. The plane landed on the runway and slowly came to a stop. From the plane that the teens had arrived on came their kidnappers.

"It's about time!" Jeff yelled when the engine was cut. "Did you get them?"

From the cockpit of the small plane came a muffled voice yelling "They're in the back, Boss!"

The three tied-up teenagers couldn't see who climbed off the plane, all they could see was the feet.

"Turn the plane on, Lobo." they heard Jeff order and the teens saw a set of feet disappear back into the plane.

The plane roared to life and stayed there, running, for a few minutes when it suddenly cut off.

"Why did they waste fuel by running the plane?" Maggie asked.

"So we couldn't hear what they were saying." Henry replied, his eyes glued to the feet under the plane.

"Where is he?" a female voice asked loudly, her voice angry.

"Mom!" Henry breathed.

"Follow me." they heard Jeff say and the feet slowly moved to the front of the plane.  
"Mom! Dad!" Henry shouted as soon as he saw his parents.

"Henry!" Rosie Griffin started to run to her son, but a man none of hte teenagers had seen grabbed her and held her back.

"Let her go, Will." Jeff ordered.

The man let her go and Rosie immediately ran to Henry, Zafer right behind her.

"Oh Henry!" Rosie was almost on the verge of tears as she kissed Henry. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Henry insisted, blushing slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"We were coming to save you and your friends." His father answered, "but we sorta got...picked up."

Henry couldn't help but grin at his father's choice of words.

"Hello Jasper." Rosie smiled at her nephew. "How have you been?"

"Oh fine." Jasper said sarcastically. "Being tied to a pole in the middle of nowhere is how I always spend my free time."

"And there's the Jasper I remember." Zafer grinned and ruffled Jasper's hair.

Jasper moved his head out of the way, annoyed at his uncle's attention.

"Uncle Zafer." He moaned. "I'm to old for that!"

"You were saying that when you were two." Zafer grinned and ruffled Jasper's hair again.

"Uh Mom, Dad." Henry interrupted. "This is Maggie Winnock."

"Hello Maggie." Rosie smiled at her. "I'm Rosie and this is Zafer."

"Hello." Maggie smiled.

Despite the calmness and casualness of the conversation, all five of them knew that they were captives and that, at any second, any one of them could be put in danger.

"All right, all right!" Jeff said as he and the others walked up to where the five were. "That's enough socializing. Now, Mr. Griffin, are you going to tell us where the city is?"

"What's he talking about Dad?" Henry asked, struggling slowly against the ropes.

"Whatever it is, don't tell him Uncle Z!" Jasper added.

"Shut up, both of you!" Miles snapped, pointing a gun in there direction.

"Point that thing away from son and nephew!" Zafer snapped.

"Fine." Miles sneered as he pointed the gun at Zafer's chest. "How about I aim it at you instead?"

"Miles." Jeff said calmly.

Miles just grunted and put the gun down.

"Now," Jeff said calmly. "Where is El Dorado?"

"We don't know." Zafer replied through clenched teeth.

"Wrong answer." Jeff said. "Jeremy, Will."

The two men, who looked very much alike, were moving even before he said there names. As Will untied the ropes, Jeremy jerked Henry free and pinned his arms behind his back. Will retied the ropes around Maggie and Jasper and walked over to stand beside Jeremy. He grabbed one of Henry's arms and Jeremy held the other.  
"What are you doing with my son?" Rosie asked in a worried voice.

"Rob." Jeff never looked behind him, but instead looked straight at the elder Griffins.

"My pleasure." Rob grinned and rolled his sleeves up.

He walked back to where Henry was being held immobile. Without warning, Rob's fist struck out and hit Henry in the stomach. He would have doubled over if Will and Jeremy hadn't held him up. Before Henry could regain his breath, he was hit repeatedly. A few times in the stomach, a few times to the face.

"No!" Rosie screamed, she sounded like she was crying. She rushed forward toward her son crying, "Leave him alone!"

"Tell us where El Dorado is and it will end!" Jeff said loudly as he stopped her.

"We can't tell you!" Zafer said hurriedly as he watched his son continue to be beat up.

"Then he gets beat to death!" Jeff sneered. "And we have two more to beat until you do tell us!"

"We can't tell you!" Zafer continued. "But we can show you!"

"Now that's better." Jeff grinned evilly. He tossed Rosie back to Zafer. "That's enough Rob."

Rob instantly quit punching Henry. Jeremy and Will let him go and Henry crashed mercilessly to the ground where he lay panting, trying to get his breath back. His body racked with pain from the blows. Without warning, Miles ran over and delivered two sift kicks to Henry's ribs. He rolled over in more agony. Blood ran from several cuts on his face and he felt like he had broken his ribs.

"Tomorrow," Jeff said as he started to walk away. "You will take us to El Dorado."


	14. Chapter 14

_**Woo! Another update and in a quick time too! :) I am determained to finish this story soon (though I'm not quite sure how many more chapters I have left) Anyhow, thank you for all the reviews. :) You guys rock! This chapter is short, but I prmoise the next one will be longer! :) :) Now, onto chapter 14!**_

_Chapter 14_

Bryan Bartlett sat on his son's bed with his head in his hands. He had told the Winnocks to wait and do nothing, but he himself was having a hard time of doing nothing while his son and nephew were in danger.

"Why did I say wait?" He suddenly exclaimed. "Why didn't I say lets go and rescue them?"

Even as he asked this question to the air, he knew the answer: It was to risky. They had no clue where the teenagers were. They knew Columbia, but where in Columbia? North? South? East? West? Or was Columbia just thrown out there to confuse them and send them on a wild goose chase? While he and the Winnocks ran off to Columbia, the kidnappers could be in Australia, for all they knew.

"It's better to play it safe." he told himself, but he didn't believe it.

He heard teh phone ring from downstairs. He hopped to his feet and hurried down the stairs to the phone charger, but he saw no phone. Biting his lip, he looked around for the phone. He listened and heard it coming from the laundry room. Grinning despite himself, Mr. Bartlett thought of how Henry must have hid the phone here so he couldn't hear the ringing.

"Hello?" He said when he had retrieved the phone from between two shirts.

"Bryan, it's Deborah Winnock." Mrs. Winnock's voice sounded frantic and nervous.

"What is it..." he started to say, but she cut him off quickly.

"Maggie called!" the relief was evident in her voice, but there was also fear. "Please come here quick!"

"I'll be there in twenty minutes." Mr. Bartlett exclaimed.

He threw the phone back into the pile of laundry and ran to his car.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Bartlett sat in the Winnock's living room listening to the recording of Maggie's call. Mr. Winnock, being a military man, had a reording device and had managed to record the most important part of the call.

"We're in a deserted airport in Columbia." Maggie's voice was whispering, as if she was afraid of being overheard. "Not near the coast, but more in the jungle. They have Henry's parents and are using us against them so that they will show our kidnappers where El Dorado is. The three of us managed to escape, but we can't get far. Henry's hurt and the men were right behind us before we found this phone and they could be here at any minute."

Then the phone went dead. Maggie didn't hang up, but the phone died, as if it had been unplugged.

"I was able to trace the call to where they are." Mr. Winnock announced.

He walked over to a large world map on the wall and pointed to the center of Columbia. "They are around in this area."

"Do we still wait?" Mrs. Winnock asked.

"No." Mr. Bartlett shook his head. "If my sister and brother-in-law have been caught, then it's up to us save them."

"When do we leave?" Mrs. Winnock looked at her husband, then Mr. Bartlett.

"I can get us a jet tonight and we can leave by eight in the morning." Mr. Winnock answers his wife.

He walked over to the phone and dialed a number.

"Moore," he said, "This is Winnock, I have a favor to ask of you."


	15. Chapter 15

_**This will probably be the last update for a few days since I'm gonna be gone and won't have access to a computer. Hope ya'll enjoy this one though. :) Thanks for all the reviews! :) Without you guys leavin' those good reviews I probably would have gave up on this story when I first got writers block. :)**_

_Chapter 15_

The men had dragged Henry back to the pole and tied the ropes tighter then before.

"Now," Jeff said to Rosie and Zafer. "We have some plans to discuss. If you will follow me."

He turned around and started toward the plane. The rest of the kidnappers, including the two Amazon men and the new guy, surrounded the Griffins so they had no choice but to follow.

"Are you all right?" Maggie asked Henry who was slouching against the pole, breathing hard.

"Fine." Henry lied, his voice heavy with pain as he tried to catch his breath. "Just had... the breath kno...knocked out of me."

"You don't sound fine." Jasper argued.

"I'm fine!" Henry insisted.

To prove his point, Henry took a breath and straightened up against the pole, but as he straightened, pain ran through his body. He lost his breath and slouched back down.

"Henry!" Maggie and Jasper exclaimed as they heard him slouch back down.

"Ok..." he panted. "Maybe... I'm not...fine."

"Don't you have some mojo healing that you learned in China or something?" Jasper asked, being half sarcastic, half serious.

"It was Brazil." Henry corrected as he straightened back up slowly. "And I never was good at it."

"Did they break any of your ribs?" Maggie asked.

"I don't think so." Henry answered. "It don't feel like they are at least."  
"How do you know what broken ribs feel like?" Jasper asked, not quite sure he wanted to know the answer.

"I got into a street fight in Thailand a few years ago." Henry said matter of fact. "I got thrown into a tree branch and broke three ribs."

"Oh." Jasper replied.

"So how do we get out of here?" Maggie sighed.

"We could cut the ropes." Henry suggested.

"Great idea, Henry!" Jasper said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "With what? Our fingernails?"

Henry just lightly shook his head and started cutting the ropes with a knife that seemed to have appeared in his hand out of no where.

"Where did you get that knife?" Maggie asked quietly.

"It was on the ground when they threw me down." Henry replied as he slowly cut away at the ropes.

"Why was there a knife on the ground?" Jasper whispered.

"I don't know." Henry replied as he cut the last of the ropes and the three were free. "Just was."

"One of them must have dropped it accidentally." Maggie commented as she rubbed her arms to get the blood flowing better.

"Come on, we have to get out of here." Henry turned toward the old building that was on the airport.

He stumbled suddenly and would have hit the ground hard if Jasper hadn't seen him falling and grabbed his cousin's arms, keeping him up right.

"I don't think you should be running, Henry." Maggie commented as she got on his other side.

"Don't matter." Henry said stubbornly, throwing his cousin's arm off. "We have to get out of here and then rescue my parents."

He started walking, a fast walk, but not fast enough to make him fall again. Maggie and Jasper were on either side of him in case he should stumble. They could tell Henry was in pain from the way he took quick, sharp breaths as he walked. His eye was swelling up and they knew he probably had bruises all over his stomach and chest. But Henry was stubborn and refused to admit that he was in pain, so he just kept walking at the same pace. All three were expecting the kidnappers to suddenly jump out of the plane and catch them, but nothing happened until they had reached the building.

"There's a phone!" Maggie exclaimed as she looked inside the window. "And there's a light on! It must work!"

"Come on! Before they spot us!" Jasper said quickly, pushing Henry then Maggie toward the open door.

"They've escaped!" They suddenly heard someone yell from the plane. "The building!"

"Hurry!" Jasper pushed Henry and Maggie through the door just as a gunshot went off.

Henry and Maggie hit the ground hard and Jasper landed on top of them as the bullet splintered the wooden frame of the door.

"That was a close one." he gasped.

"Too close." Maggie agreed as she stood quickly and grabbed the phone.

"Are you all right, Henry?" Jasper asked as he helped his cousin to a sitting position.

He heard Maggie dial the phone and he couldn't help but wonder who she was calling.

"The door." Henry gasped.

It took Jasper a second to understand. He looked up at the old door that was wide open. Henry meant for him to close the door! Jumping to his feet, Jasper reached his arm out and grabbed the edge of the door and slammed it shut, just as another bullet hit it, just a few inches above his hands. He didn't think the door would stay shut, it was so old and the bullets in it couldn't be helping it. But it stayed shut.

"Are you all right?" Jasper asked as he kneeled beside Henry.

"I am now." Henry replied. "Just lost my breath for a minute."

"Are you sure?" Jasper didn't believe his cousin.

" Henry's parents and are using us against them so that they will show our kidnappers where El Dorado is." he heard Maggie say behind him.

Henry had managed to get to his feet and was looking out the window.

"They're almost here!" He announced.

"The phone went dead." Maggie suddenly said.

"Who did you call?" Jasper asked.

"My parents."

"Do they know where we are?" Henry asked.

"Dad has a tracking device." Maggie answered. "So he should be able to."

"We'll have to stall these guys, then." Jasper said. "If they go to El Dorado tomorrow, then your parents will never be able to find us."

"We'll have to fight." Maggie agreed.

"Then be ready." Henry suddenly backed away from the window. "They're a few yards away!"

Suddenly the half broken glass in the window broke completely as a metal container crashed through it and hit the floor, releasing a cloudy gas.

"Hold your breath!" Henry shouted, before holding his own, though he knew there was no way they could hold there breaths till the gas disappeared.

They did, but none could hold there breath long enough. Within thirty seconds, all three teens were out cold on the floor.

**_So, I know it seems like they get knocked out a lot, but it's necesary for what I plan for later chapters. :) Until next update. :) :)_**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Hey guys! I'm soooooo sorry that this update has taken forever and is so short. I've been really really really busy lately, but I hope that I will have more up soon. It is almost to the interesting part, to me at least. :) Thank you for all of the great reviews guys! :) :)_**

**_Midnight4200, for your question about relationships, I am pretty sure their won't be any. Not to say their won't be when I start writing again, but at this current moment I doubt it. I want this story to be more focused on their friendship and not on a closer relationship. _**

**_Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this update until the next chapter! :) :)_**

_Chapter 16_

The three unconscious teens were dragged out of the old building, but instead of being tied to the pole, they were dragged to the plane and thrown back into the closet.

"How did they get loose?" Jeff demanded as the kidnappers walked in to where he, Kate, and the elder Griffins were.

"Griffin had a knife." Jeremy said gruffly, tossing the small pocket knife to his father.

Jeff examined the knife for a few moments before asking, "Where did he get it? He didn't have it on him when he was tied up."

Jeremy shrugged.  
"Must have had it hidden somewhere." Kate suggested. "He probably swallowed it or something."  
"Swallowed it?" the newcomer, Will, asked in confusion.

"It doesn't matter how he got it," Jeff inturrupted. "All that matters is that they didn't get away. Rob, Will. I want you two to go and guard the brats."

The two men nodded and walked to where the three teens were being held.

"Now," Jeff turned back to Zafer and Rosie Griffin. "Where is El Dorado?"

"Why do you want to know?" Rosie asked.

"That," Jeff snapped. "Is none of your concern. Just tell me where it is!"

"We can't." Zafer said nervously, glancing at his wife.

"What do you mean 'can't'?" Jeff's face was turning red.

"It's hidden somewhere in the jungle." Rosie explained. "It's to hard to explain, you have to be shown."

"Then you will show us!" Jeff boomed. "Tomorrow!" Then he started to walk to the door of the plane, but he paused to turn around and say "No tricks or your precious boy in there will wind up pirana food."

"But there are no pirana around here." Zafer corrected. "They only ones around here..."

He was cut off mid-sentance by Rosie elbowing him in the side.

"You get the picture." Jeff growled before stomping out of hte plane.

"Dad!" Kate yelled running after her father, "What do we do with them?"

"Tie them up!" her father yelled as he walked to the other plane. "But keep them away from the brats!"

Kate nodded and walked back to the cabin of hte plane where Zafer and Rosie were already being tied.

"Where is Dad going?" Jeremy asked his sister as he finished tying Zafer.

"Probably to the village." Kate replied. "We're gonna need a bit more help tomorrow to keep an eye on all of them now."

Jeremy nodded and turned to Miles.

"You stay here and watch them."

"Where are you going?" Miles protested.

"None of your business." Jeremy said as he turned and, grabbing Kate's arm, walked off after his father.

/

Kate, Jeff, and Jeremy sat in a hut about a quarter of a mile in the woods outside of the deserted airport. Surrounding them were about seven tribesmen, one of them the chief of the small villege.

"It is no good." the man said in his broken English with a little of his native language thrown in. "Look for El Dorado and gods kill you all."

"But we have sacrafices for the gods." Jeff argued in a mixture of English and the natives language. "If we can have permission to pass through your lands, we can make sure the gods will not bother you, or us."

The chief and the rest of the tribesmen conversed for a few minutes before turning back to Jeff.

"Good." the chief said. "You can go through land. Leave tribute."

"Agreed." Jeff stuck his hand out and he and the chief shook.

"When you pass through land?" the chief asked.

"Tomorrow." Jeff replied. "For four days."

"Five days." the chief added one day. "No more."

"Good." Jeff said.

Then the three stood and left the village to go back and prepare for the next day's voyage.


	17. Chapter 17

**_I know, I know. I told ya'll that I was getting over writers block, then it hit me harrder then ever. In fact, I got so busy I actually forgot about this story! But I'm back (for good I hope!) and I thank you to all those who still even care about this story. :) :) Hopefully, it won't be much longer till the end. Though I still have more to go! :) _**

**_ In this chapter, I made Maggie more pessimistic then she really is. I was trying to make it more realistic and if this situation had happened to me, I sure would have been feeling pessimistic! Sorry if you don't like this version, but it won't last long. :) Now, on to the chapter!_**

_Chapter 17_

Henry slowly opened his eyes and groaned at the pain in his head. He brought his hand up to his head to rub it, but he froze when he heard the sound of metal clinging against metal and something cold slid down his wrist. Though he could not see, Henry reached his left hand over and felt whatever it was on his wrist. He recognized the feel of the cold metal that held his wrists close together. Handcuffs.

"Maggie!" he whispered, reaching out into the darkness. "Jasper!"

Silence. Henry kept reaching out into the darkness until he ran into a leg. Henry let go of the leg in surprise as the leg moved and Jasper groaned.

"What happened." Jasper asked as he sat up and rubbed his head.

"What do you think." Henry replied, silently noticing that their was no clinging of metal as Jasper moved.

"Would you two be quiet." Maggie moaned from Henry's other side. "My head really hurts."

"How long do you think we've been out?" Jasper asked.

"No telling." Henry replied, leaning back against the wall, trying to keep the handcuffs quiet. "No windows, no light, no way to tell."

The three fell silent, each to their own thoughts. Henry's nose started to itch. He knew that if he moved, the handcuffs would clank and Henry didn't want Maggie and Jasper to know that he was cuffed. In their situation, it would only cause them to worry unnesicarily. But if he didn't mention the cuffs, then Jasper and Maggie might get mad.

Henry didn't know what to do. He didn't want Maggie and Jasper to feel like he didn't trust them, but he also didn't want to worry them. In the end, he had no choice in his decision.

He felt the sneeze coming, and it was only natural when he moved his hands to his face as he sneezed. The clanging of the metal was not lost on Maggie or Jasper.

"What was that, Henry?" Maggie asked.

"What was what?" Henry replied.

"I heard metal." Maggie said and she reached out in the dark and grabbed Henry's hands. She felt the metal handcuffs and she gasped. "Handcuffs?"

"What?" Jasper asked. "Handcuffs?"

Henry squirmed uncomfortably. So much for keeping them a secret.

"Great." Jasper sighed negativly. "First we escape, then get recaptured. Now the only one who knows martial arts has handcuffs and can't do nothing!"

"I can still do martial arts!" Henry argued.

"Henry." Jasper scoffed, "Even you aren't that talented."

"Ok," Henry gave slightly, "I've never fought with handcuffs, but I've fought with my hands tied! How much different could it be?"

"Where and why did you fight with your hands tied?" Maggie asked.

"I was kidnapped by a tribe in India when I was twelve." Henry explained. "They take boasts very serious there. I told them I could fight any of there warriors with my hands tied. They took me up on it. If I won, I got my freedom. So they tied my hands in front of me and I fought their toughest and most expericanced warrior."

"And you won?" Jasper asked amazed.

"Well, no." Henry admitted. "But I got close! Well, sorta."

"So basically you can't fight with your hands tied." Maggie replied.

When he didn't reply she knew she was right.

"So what do we do?" Jasper asked.

"Nothing we can do except wait." Maggie replied as she settled back against the wall.

"There has to be something we can do!" Henry exclaimed, surprised at how easily she gave in.

"Henry," Maggie said slowly, making sure her words sank in. "We've tried to escape, we failed. They are most likely out there guarding us right now. They are all bigger then us and stronger then us. Not only are you hurt from the beating they gave you, but you have handcuffs on too, you are no match for them! It would take a miracle to get us out of this mess."

"Maggie." Jasper said in shock at his friend's speech. "You don't really believe that do you?"

"Jasper," Maggie sair with a glare, though none could see it in the dark. "I am tired, worn, and all I want is to go home. But that's not going to happen, now is it."

"Miracles still happen." Henry said quietly.

The three lapsed into silence. Neither of the boys could believe that strong Maggie had given up so easily.

'Something's happened to her.' Jasper thought. 'But what?'

'She's wrong!' Henry yelled in his head. 'For the first time, Maggie Winnock is wrong! She has to be! We can still get out of this! There's still hope!'

He moved his hands to his face, the handcuffs clanking.

'Wait,' Henry thought suddenly. 'She said that because I was hurt and in handcuffs, I am no match for them. I've fought hurt before, if I could just get these handcuffs off!'

With that goal in his mind, Henry got to work. Reaching around carefully, he felt for anything smal and metal. He could find nothing.

"What are you doing?" Jasper asked as the handcuffs clanked nonstop.

"Do eithe rof you have a small piece of metal by any chance? Or anything small and tough?" he asked instead of providing an answer.

"What? Why?" Maggie asked, then it dawned on her. "You're going to pick the handcuff locks!"  
"I'm sure gonna try." Henry replied. "Do you have anything that would work?"

"Hold on." Maggie replied.

In about a minute, she handed Henry a nail file.

"Will that work? she asked.

"Will what work?" Jasper said in confusion.

"It should." Henry lied, ignoring Jasper.

To tell the truth, he had never tried to pick a lock before, so he had no clue if the fire would work or not. He felt carefully for hte locks on his right wrist. He moved clumsily as he tried to fit the file in the small hole with his hands not wanting to cooporate.

"I can't get it." Henry sighed. "My hands won't move enough to get it to turn."

"Let me try." Jasper said.

He seemed to have figured out what they were planning as he move dover and reached for the file. Experatly, he menouvered the file into the handcuffs and began to pick the lock. In about five minutes, he had both handcuffs off.

"How'd you do that?" Henry asked in amazment.

"All ya gotta do is find where the key would go and get the gears to move right." Jasper replied as he handed the file back to Maggie.

"Why do you know how to do that?" Maggie asked.

"When your a kid in the Smithsonian and you want to hide from your Dad, you learn a few tricks." Jasper replied with an unseen grin.

"You have to teach me that!" Henry exclaimed as he rubbed his wrists to get the feeling back in them.

"Wait, you don't know how to pick a lock?" Jasper asked.

"Uh...I...um..." Henry stammered, upset that he had revealed to them that he didn't know how.

"Ha!" Jasper exclaimed in triumph. "I know something that Henry Griffin doesn't!"

"Shh!" Maggie hissed at him. "Do you want them to hear you ? They might come back!"

"But we'll be ready." Henry said determained.

"How?" Jasper asked, still happy that he had done something his cousin couldn't.

"Don't let them surprise us." Henry replied.

"How?" Maggie asked, a little pessimitism seaping into her voice. "We're in a dark locked room. As soon as they open that door, we'll be blind."

"We got out once." Jasper said, hoping he was right. "We can do it again!"


	18. Chapter 18

**_I know, I know, it's been forever since I've updated. I'm soooo sorry bout that! But I'm back (for good I hope) I'm sorry that this chapter is so short and boring, but it was really hard to write for some reason. Next chapter will be longer. :) _**

**_I've heard tha Unnatural History has been cancelled. Is that true? If it it is (which I hope sooooo much that it isn't) will they make DVD's out of the first season?_**

_Chapter 18_

The air port was deserted that morning at 7:30. One solitary plane sat on the runway, waiting. Two cars sat in the parking lot as four people slowly made their way toward the plane.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Mr. Moore." Mrs. Winnock said to the older man.

"Its me pleasure, ma'am." Moore replied in a thick Irish accent. "Anythin' for my friend."

"We'll have your plane back in a week's time." Mr. Winnock's face showed no emotion, just seriousness.

"Don't worry 'bout it laddy." Moore replied cheerfully. "I never use this plane. Use it fer as long as ye like."

"Thank you sir." Mrs. Winnock said, a sad smile on her face.

"Yer welcome las." Moore beamed at her, showing two missing front teeth. "Good luck."

He spun on his heel and walked away without a backwards glance, trusting Mr. Winnock completly.

The Winnocks and Bryan Bartlett watched the Irishman as he walked back across the parking lot, climbed into his old pickup, and with a wave of his hand pulled out of the airport. As soon the pickup was on the road, the three climbed aboard the small plane.

"How long should it take us to get there?" Mr. Bartlett asked as he sat down in a spare seat.

"A few hours." Mr. Winnock replied, looking over the dashboard. "

"Everythings ready." Mrs .Winnock announced from the copilot's seat.

"Good." Mr. Winnock nodded as he started the plane down the runway.

"What are we going to do when we get there?" Mr. Bartlett asked when they were in the air.

"Rescue the kids." Mr. Winnock replied, uneasiness in his voice.

"We need a plan." Mrs. Winnock sighed, sounding a lot like her daughter. "We can't just rush in blind."

"We'll come up with something." Mr. Bartlett said confidently. "We have a few hours, we'll come up with a plan."


	19. Chapter 19

**_Wooo! I am so happy that I got this chapter finished. It is much longer and more eventful then the last chapter by a long shot! :) Things should start to pick up from here. The next chapter should be up in a few days, I am determained to finish this story before the start of the new year (or the first week of the new year at least). To all who have stuck with this story even when I wasn't writing, thank you. You guys rock!_**

**_Avatar Rikki and StrawberryBubble, thanks for answering my question. I wish that wasn't true though! Unnatural History was the best! I sure hope they make a DVD out of it, I would so buy it! haha :) Anyways, onto Chapter 19!_**

_CHAPTER 19_

"I hate this waiting." Jasper whined for the hundreth time.

"Jasper!" Maggie barked in annoyance. "Shut up!"

"But we've been waiting for hours! Face it! They aren't coming!" Jasper walked forward from his spot to the right of the door.

"They'll be here eventually." Henry replied from where he stood at the back of the room, the handcuffs dangling loosley off his arms. "But when is eventually?" Jasper asked sarcastically.

"What do we do if this doesn't work?" Maggie asked as she leaned against the wall

"Then we loose nothing." Jasper replied.

"Shh!" Henry hissed. "They're coming!"

Jasper hurried to go and stand beside Maggie.

"Ready?" Henry asked quietly.

"Ready." Jasper and Maggie said in unison.

"Remember, run. Don't look back. Find a road and follow it, it should lead you to a village where you can get help." Henry reminded them.

"What do you mean Henry?" Maggie asked, not remembering that part of the plan. "Aren't you coming?"

"Just do as I say." Henry said vagually, more serious then any had heard him before.

Jasper started argue back, but the door knob turning stopped him. The lights flashed on, blinding the three teens. Three men rushed in, guns in hand, and spread out, leaving the door wide open. They stood their in shock when they saw Henry standing their blinking to get use to the light.

"Where are they, boy?" Miles sneered, a gun in his hand pointing at Henry's chest.

"They left." Henry replied cheerfully, a goofy smile on his face.

"Left?" Jeremy repeated in surprise. "Without you, I highly doubt that."

"I made them." Henry laughed, the carefree smile remaining.

He glanced to the corner behind the three kidnappers. Maggie and Jasper still stood there. His eyes pleaded for them to leave and escape, and with one last glance, his friends hurried out of the room and to freedom.

"Uh uh." Will replied, sounding a little uncertain. "They wouldn't leave you here alone."

"How much help would I have been to them with these things?" Henry asked, holding the handcuffs up slightly. "They realized I would just hinder their escape, so they left."

"Very funny, kid." Jeremy glared, lowering his gun slightly, "But no one has come in or out of that door all night. Now where are they?"

"Right behind you." Henry answered.

The three kidnappers spun around to face the empty door, just as Henry had expected. He slipped the handcuffs off fast and got ready. Moving quickly, Henry leaped forward and tackled Will and Jeremy to the ground. He jumped up immediatly and swung the handcuffs at a stunned Miles. They hit his hand, knocking the gun to the floor. Swinging the handcuffs expertly, Henry let the handcuffs go and sent them flying into Miles' stomach, doubling the small man over in pain. Henry turned on his heel to face Jeremy who had regained his feet. He wore an evil smile as he pointed his gun at Henry's chest. Henry froze in his place, knowing he was fighting a loosing battle. He wasn't faster then a bullet.

"Say your prayers, kid." Jeremy snarled, his finger tightening on the trigger.

Henry took a deep breath, refusing to let the fear he felt show. Just as Jeremy started to squeeze the trigger, a body barreled into him, sending the kidnapper to the floor. The gun expoded, sending a deafening roar in the small room, and the bullet smashed harmlessly into the wall. Henry stood in shock for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Come on idiot!" Jasper shouted as he got off of Jeremy.

"What are you doing here?" Henry shouted back as he and his cousin took of running.

Jasper didn't reply as he knocked his shoulder into Will who had gotten to his feet. The blow sent the final kidnapper to the ground. The cousins hurried out of the door, shutting it as they did.

They took off running toward the exit of the plane, Henry's question unanswered. The door was wide open and Jasper was the first one out and he quickly started running across the runway. Henry was about to follow when a hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back into the plane. He fought back, but he was soon overpowered by two natives. His arms were pinned to his side and a gun was pressed to the side of his head and the hammer cocked.

"Oh Jasper!" Jeff's voice called from behind him. "Come back here, please."

"Wha...?" Jasper spun around at the voice.

He could barely see Henry on his knees in the exit's doorway, a gun pressed to his head.

"Now, Jasper." Jeff ordered, his voice cold. "Or your cousin here gets a bullet in his brain."

Jasper sighed in defeat and started to walk back to the plane.

"Don't do it Jasper!" Henry shouted. "Go! Save yourself! Forget about me!"

"Shut up!" Jeff snarled, jamming the gun barrell harder into Henry's head.

Jasper paused, uncertain what to do. His eyes met his cousins who was silently pleading with him to run. Jasper sighed and started walking toward the plane. He refused to look at his cousin as he reached the doorway.

One of the natives let go of Henry and reached out and grabbed Jasper, yanking him into the plane. Henry and Jasper's hands were quickly tied behind their backs and they were led none to gently to the room behind the cockpit.

"Henry! Jasper!" Rosie Griffin exclaimed, her hands tied behind her.

"Are you all right, boys?" Zafer asked, his hands also tied.

"Fine Dad." Henry replied, glancing at Jasper, silently begging him not to tell them what had just happened.

"Never been better." Jasper weakly joked, understanding what Henry was silently saying.

They were led over beside Zafer and Rosie who sat in chairs. Being as there was no more chairs, the two natives forced the boys to their knees and stood behind them to prevent any further escape attempts.

"You're boy's not to bright, Mrs. Griffin." Jeff commented, his gun at his side. "It takes an idiot to try and escape a third time after failing twice."

"Third times lucky." Henry replied before his Mom could say anything.

"Not for you it's not." Jeff snapped.

"Where's the girl?" Kate asked from where she stood in the corner.

"Your brothers and cousin let her escape." Jeff told her. "They're looking for her now. She couldn't have gone far."

The room lapsed into silence. For ten minutes no one said a word. The captives glanced at each other nervously, but not a word was said. Fifteen minutes later, the other three kidnappers returned without Maggie.

"Where is she?" Jeff asked. "Where is the girl?"

"We couldn't find her, Dad." Will spoke up, revealing his connection in the kidnappings.

"She must have took to the forest." Jeremy added. "She'll die soon enough out there."

"You better hope she does." Jeff snapped. "If she gets help it's all your fault! Idiots!"

"Father," Kate said slowly, placing a hand on her father's shoulder. "Shouldn't we be going? We only have five days to find El Dorado."

"You're right." Jeff sighed. "Miles, grab the packs, Kate you help him. Will, Jeremy, you two take the boys on out. Our native friends will take the other two when I finish talking to them."

They all nodded annd went about their tasks. Jeremy grabbed Jasper, pulled him roughly to his feet, and pushed him toward the exit. Will started to grab Henry, but Henry stood on his own and started walking toward the door, leaving Will to follow slightly behind. Outside, Henry and Jasper were led to the edge of the forest where thirteen horses were tied.

Jeremy held a gun to the boys as Will untied them one at a time and helped them on their horse and tied their hands to the saddle horn. By the time the boys were tied onto their horses, the others were at the horses as well. Within ten minutes the party was on a trail into the Amazon rainforest, one captive short.


	20. Chapter 20

**_All right! Three chapters in one day! :D I think I'm starting to get back into this story! Who knows, maybe I'll be able to finish it soon. I'm sure going to try. :) :) Thank you soo much for all the reviews! FireFriday, I completly agree with you! Unnatural History should not have been canceled, it was one of the few good shows still on TV (in my view at least.). Anyhow. On to the chapter. :)_**

_CHAPTER 20_

Maggie didn't know where to run. She and Jasper hadn't gone five feet out of the plane when Jasper told her he was going back for Henry and left.

"Keep going!" he had yelled back to her as he ran back to save his cousin. "Find help!"

She wanted to go back and help, but she knew t hat they were as good as dead if she didn't get help. So she forced herself to run and not look back. She noticed some horses tied at the edge of the forest, so she ran toward them, figuring there had to be a path over there somewhere. She had just reached the shelter of the forest when she heard a gunshot coming from the plane. She spun around, horrified at the sound. She ducked behind a tree as she saw someone run from the plane. She bit back a cry of relief as she recognized Jasper. But where was Henry? He hadnt been...no. She couldn't even think that. She started to call out to Jasper, but she stopped as she saw him pause and turn around. Then, to her surprise, he walked back into the plane!

Maggie just stood there in shock. Why had Jasper gone back to the plane? Where was Henry? What was the gunshot for? Where would help be? What should she do know? So many questions and no answers.

Maggie frowned. She hated having questions, but no answers. She realized that she had no chance at all of finding help in an area she didn't know. The more she thought about it, the worse her situation seemed. Then an answer came to her. She would just wait. She needed to know if Jasper and Henry were all right and she needed to rescue them.

One of the horses snorted, distracting here. Then an idea came to her. The kidnappers had said they were going to go find El Dorado today. Knowing them, they probably had extra guns stowed away in the saddlebags! Or, if not guns, then a knife at least. She needed a weapon, though she prayed she wouldn't need it.

Taking one last look at the pplane, she made her move. She left the relative safety of the tree and hurried to the first horse. She reached inside the saddlebags, but all she found was oats for the horses. She had better luck in the next horse she checked. She found a small knife, which she quickly stowed away in her pocket. Feeling around some more, Maggie felt a piece of chalk. Wondering why there was chalk in the saddlebag, she nevertheless pocketed it. She then noticed the blanket roll on the back and, taking a risk, she quickly grabbed it and the rope that had tied it to the saddle. Maggie looked back and saw movement coming from the plane. Moving quickly, she hurried back to hide behind a large tree naer the horses.

She nearly jumped for joy when she saw Jasper and Henry walking on there own toward the horses. Behind them was two of the kidnappers who she recognized as Will and Jeremy. She bit her lip as she studied the one called Will, the one who had seemed to appear out of nowhere.

'They look a lot alike.' Maggie thought as Jasper and Henry were tied to seperate horses (Jasper, she noticed, was tied to the one she had stolen the blanket roll off of). 'Let's see. Kate and Jeremy are brother and sister, and Jeff is their father. Miles is their cousin. This seems to be a family operation. From the similarities between them, Jeremy and Will must be brothers."

She grinned in triumph as she solved the man's identity. It didn't help her none, but it made her proud to have figured it out on nothing more then the similarities in the two men. Maggie moved slightly and a twi cracked under her feet. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped slightly.

Jeremy's head snapped toward the tree she was hiding behind, but he seemed to just shrug it off. Maggie let out a braeth she hadn't realized she'd been holding and shrunk back against the tree. She heard the rest of the kidnappers coming and in ten minutes they were all mounted and starting down the path. Maggie grinned as she moved slightly to remain hidden. She hadn't been discovered, even though she had taken something that should have been noticed.

Maggie remained hidden behind the tree for another three minutes until she was sure they were all gone. Only then did she reveal herself.

"What would Henry do in a situtation like this?" she asked out loud, thinking about some of the stories the traveller had told.

'Leave a sign.' a voice in her head whispered. 'Let rescuers know which way you went.'

Maggie smiled as she removed the chalk she had taken from the saddlebag. She ran to where the pavement ended right before the small dirt path started. Bending, she made a large arrow pointing down the path. Then, just in case, she ran back to the plane and left another arrow pointing toward the woods. Underneath that arrow she wrote "HELP. M. W." Halfway between the two arrows, she drew another arrow.

"That should do it." she told herself.

She dropped the chalk, dusted her hands off, and hurried back to the tree. She grabbed the blanket roll and tied it to her back with teh rope then, staying off the trail as much as possible, she started down the trail to rescue her friends.


	21. Author's Note

_**I want to start off by saying sorry that this isn't a chapter update, but I have hit a road block. I just can't seem to right the next chapter. I know, I know, I said I had gotten over writer's block...then it hit me worse then ever. For this story at least.**_

_**Now, I'm not going to completly end this story. I will be back, I just don't know when. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or added this story. Ya'll are awesome! :) I'm sorry again that this story won't be uploaded again no time soon, but I will be back for it! I've never left a story unfinished and I don't plan to start! I just need a break. :) Hope you understand. Once again, sorry.**_

_**Until then,**_

_**Southern Steel**_


	22. Chapter 21

**_Hey everybody! I know, I know, it has been FOREVER since I last updated and I'm truly sorry about that. I'm back now though! I was finally able to find websites to watch Unnatural History episodes and so I am now back into the mood for this story! Not gonna promise updates every day or even every week. Updates will be coming slow, but not as slow as they have been. I would also like to apologize for any spelling or grammer errors. I have no spell check and I've gotten way worse then before at spelling because I haven't wrote anything in a long long long time. _**

**_Before the chapter begins, I would like to ask a question. I have been rereading this story and I see a lot of places were I want to go back and make a few changes or clear stuff up. And so the question I have for any readers who wish to reply is this: _**

**_(A) Should I go back and make the changes to this story by replacing the chapters. _**

**_(B)Should I stop this story, make all the changes and upload it as a new story which would be called "The Anthropologists Son Revised" _**

**_ OR_**

**_(C) Leave the story as it is. _**

**_If it is not to much trouble, please give me your feedback on what you think I should do. Now, onto the story!_**

_CHAPTER 21 _

The trail was narrow, forcing the horsemen to ride in pairs of two. The four captives rode in the middle, Jasper and Henry beside each other and Zafer and Rosie in front of them. Leading the group was Jeff, Kate, and the two natives. Behind the captives rode Jeremy, Will, Miles and Rob. There was two spare horses, one had been meant for Maggie and the other carried spare food. Each of these were lead behind the two natives in the front.

"Where do we need to go, Griffin?" Jeff asked, pulling on the reigns to slow his horse down as he ruend around in the saddle to look at the Griffins.

"We don't know exactly." Rosie replied before her husband.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Jeff pratically roared.

"El Dorado is strange." Zafer explained. "Somehow, it moves. Or the trails move. Never figured out for sure which it was."

"So how are we suppose to get there?" Kate asked before her father could say anything.

"Find one of the trails and hope it hasn't moved." Rosie answered.

"Or that El Dorado hasn't moved." Zafer added, emphasing the point that he still wasn't sure if the trails or the city moved.

"And where are these trails?" Jeff asked, barely holding in his anger.

"About two day's ride from here." Zafer replied. "Then another day's ride to the city."

"So six or seven days total, with a day spent at the city." Jeff frowned.

"But we only have five days, Dad." Jeremy said, his forehead wrinkling as he thought. "That's two or three days over what we told that Chief."

"It won't matter." Kate replied confidently. "The chief and his tribe are all terrified of El Dorado's protectors." She gave a small laugh. "Weak minded fools. There's no such thing as protectors of cities."

"Actually..." all three Griffins spoke up.

"Don't even go there." Kate inturrupted loudly, obviously not caring to hear what the Griffins had to say.

"What about the girl, Jeff?" Rob spoke up, the first words he'd said the entire time they had been kidnapped.

"She's just a little girl in a remote country." Jeff scoffed. "What harm could she do?"

"What if she gets hurt?" Rob pressed.

Henry and Jasper glanced at each other, surprised that one of the men who had helped to kidnapp them and Maggie was expressing concern over her dissapearance.

"So what? She was going to get hurt anyhow." Kate laughed, her grey eyes cold and uncaring.

Henry glanced back at Rob, who rode the farthest back. Henry had never paid much attention to the quiet man, mostly because he was the quietest and didn't seem as big a threat. Now Henry studied him, noting that the man was the youngest of all the kidnappers. His mouth was formed into a frown as he glanced back behind him down the trail, as if looking for something. Then, Henry noticed, Rob did something very odd. He reached into his pocket and drew out a piece of chalk and, glancing around, dropped it on the ground in the middle of the trail.

Turning his head back around, Henry was in awe at what he had just saw. With the man's concern for Maggie, and with him dropping a piece of chalk, Henry believed they might just have a friend.

'Or it could be a clever diguise.' Henry thought. 'This man could just be pretending to be concerned in order to get us hurt or killed.'

The more Henry thought, the less he understood. Finally giving up, Henry decided to wait and ask his parents and Jasper about it at the first possible time. Until then, he and the other captives were forced to ride in complete silence as the small party went deeper and deeper into the Amazon forest.


	23. Chapter 22

**_All right, first off apologies. I am soooooo sorry that updates are coming so very slow and that this chapter is so short. I have a lot going on right now. I'm trying to self-publish my own book (which with my horrible computer skills is taking 10 times the time it takes most people) and have gotten obbsessed with the TV show Merlin again (hey, first time in like 2 years that it's been on in the US and I LOVE it haha) And I'm afraid that this story is suffering the worst. _**

**_ Thank you so much for all the reviews. Reviews really are the only reason I haven't trashed this story yet. Once I finish it (It will take awhile, but I still remember exactly what I want to happen and I WILL finish it, I promise!) I will-if I'm not completly aggrivated with it by then-go back and edit it, but I'll let ya'll know for sure about that on the last chapter. _**

**_ I'm sorry to say this, but chapters will be coming even slower then they already are (if that's possible) because I forgot the website I used to watch the episodes and without seeing the show I'll get completly messed up and screw the story up. All I remember is I went to youtube and typed in "Unnatural History episode ? part 1" and followed like 10 links till I finally found one or two episodes. Hard to find, but when I find them again, I will complete the story. Promise!_**

**_ Now onto the shortest and most pointless filler chapter ever. Sorry. _**

_Chapter 22_

"What do we do if they aren't still at the air port?" Deborah Winnock asked for the hundreth time.

"We find the trail and follow them." her husband, Dave, answered, his eyes focused on the plane's instruments.

They had only been in the air about two hours and it had been a rather slow two hours. Every few seconds, Deborah would ask a question, not at all pleased with her husband's lack of planning.

"So march in blind into the Amazon rainforest?" Deborah frowned.

"We're not blind." Dave replied. "Maggie's a smart girl. She will have left a trail, and maybe even have stayed behind if she was free."

"Do you really think so?" Deborah Winnock asked nervously, biting her lip slightly.

"We've raised her right." Her husband looked over at her and gave her a small, kind smile. "She's going to be fine, Deb. She's a smart girl."

"I'm just so scared." Deborah admitted.

Dave reached over and grasped her hand tightly.

"So am I." he whispered quietly. "So am I."


	24. Chapter 23

**_All right! Another chapter! I'm determained to finish this story now. So I'm planning on spending all day tomorrow working on it. Hopefully that will work out. If not, I apolgize. I am hoping to at least get them to El Dorado very soon. I have one other story I am working on, as well as self-publishing my book and reading the tons of books I need to read. Whoo, I'll never claim to have nothing to do again haha _**

**_ Now onto chapter 23!_**

_Chapter 23_

The sun was beginning to set and Maggie felt her fear slowly begin to build. Once the kidnappers were far enough away to where she couldn't see them, Maggie had hurried along the trail, glad for the speed she could make. Three times she had found a piece of chalk lying in the middle of the trail. Not sure how it got there, but grateful for it nonetheless, Maggie had made large "X"s on trees beside the trail to help guide anyone who might be coming.

Now with the coming darkness she was beginning to wish she had never escaped. The kidnappers had made camp in the middle of the trail with the prisoners spread out and tied to four seperate trees around the camp. In the middle of the trail turned camp was a large bonfire.

Maggie shivered, even though it was a warm night. Already the sounds of the rainforest were growing louder and she couldn't help but think of all the stories she had heard of the different animals that lived here. Anacondas. Jaguars. Spiders. She wasn't sure which she was more afraid of, the spiders or the possible snakes.

A twig snapped from somewhere behind her, and Maggie quietly made her way closer to the camp. She knew it was dangerous, but she needed the relative safety the fire woud grant. She stopped about fifteen feet from the camp behind a large tree. Trying not to think, she sat down and pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees.

'Please come fast.' She silently begged her parents, even though she knew it would do no good.

She could hear the voices from the camp, but she couldn't make out any words. Leaning back against the tree, her eyes closed and Maggie gave into exhastian.

She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep when she was rudely woken by a hand clasping around her mouth. Her gasp of shock and faer was muffled and a soft voice whispered in her ear.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm a friend. If you don't scream, I'll let you go."

Maggie slowly nodded, her body stiff in fear. The stranger's hand slowly let her go and she shuffled backwards against the tree, wishing she could go farther. It was still dark and all she could see was the dark outline of a tall man in front of her.

"Who are you?" she whispered, hoping her fear didn't come out in her voice.

"A friend." he repeated softly. "My name's Robert."

Maggie gasped.

"You're one of them!"

Even in the dark she could see him flinch.

"Not my choice." he muttered.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked fearfully, standing up and feeling with her hands for anything she could use as a weapon.

"I want to help you." he replied, his voice sincere.

Maggie paused. Her Dad had taught her to read people's voices and body language. The tone of his voice told her he was telling the truth, but after all he and his family had put her through, she wasn't going to trust him so fast.

"Why now?" she asked bitterly. "Why not when we were first kidnapped?"

"Jeff would kill me in an instant, and you as well." he replied, not moving. "I wish I had acted sooner, but there wasn't an opening."

"You left the chalk." It wasn't a question.

"I hoped you would mark the trail. Have you?"

"Yes."

"Good. I expect your parents will be coming. I just hope they won't be to late."

"What are yo...they planning?" Maggie paused and bit her lip nervously. "What's going to happen?"

"Jeff and Kate are planning to sacrafice your friends to the gods of El Dorado." he scoffed, clearly not believing in the gods. "How they plan to do that, I don't know. They hope that with the sacrafices, the gods will see fit to give them El Dorado and it's gold."

"That's insane!" Maggie replied in shock. "There's no such thing as the gods of El Dorado!"

"I know that," he replied, "But Kate and Jeff don't. They deny believing it, but they really do. They just don't want the Griffin's to know that they know about El Dorado's supersitions as well."

"What superstitions?"

"Well first there's the protectors of the city, which I guess is the gods. Then there's the need for the sacrafices, and all the gold. I've tried telling them that El Dorado is nothing but an old Indian city, but they won't believe me."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I don't want to see you and your friends killed." Pain was in his voice.

"Then why did you go along with them? Why get involved?"

"My uncle and cousins are crazy." He paused, almost as if he was unsure whether to continue or not. "They threatened to kill my wife and baby girl. I had no choice."

Maggie slowly relaxed and stepped forward toward the man.

"What do you have planned?"


	25. Chapter 24

**_Ok, not gonna lie. This chapter was extreamly hard to write (mostly cause I'm tired and still thinkin' bout Merlin haha) Anyways, sorry this chapter stinks. Hopefully things will pick up in the next few chapters. Hopefully they'll be up soon, but no promises. _**

**_SupernaturalfreakisSG-1fan20, thanks for the website! It didn't work on my computer unfortunatly, but thank God for google, I still got to watch two episodes! Thanks! :) _**

**_On to the story!_**

_Chapter 24_

Two days had passed since they had started off for El Dorado. Each day had been the same. Ride all day and camp on the trail tied to a tree at night. Henry didn't know how far they had left to go, but he knew they had to escape soon. He knew the stories of El Dorado as well as historians.

He knew they would be offered as sacrafices the second they got to the city. Sure, Kate and Jeff acted like their was no such thing as the "protecters of E Dorado', but Henry could see their nervousness and excitment and knew they were lying.

"How much farther is it?" Jeff asked the elder Griffins.

"We told you, the trail seems to move." Rosie answered.

"Or the city does." Zafer added.

"But if it hasn't moved," Rosie continued, "We should be there in another hour or so."

Jasper groaned when he heard that. He didn't know what waited for him at the city, but it couldn't be worse then this endless riding, or so he thought. Having never been much of an outdoors person, Jasper had only been horseback riding once in his life, and that was at the circus when he was three. Needless to say, the constant riding was begining to hurt. Being tied up and not allowed to move didn't help any either.

"How you feel, Jasper?" Henry asked quietly from beside him.

"Oh never better." he replied sarcastically. He puased before asking, "You got a plan to get us out of here?"

"Nope." Henry chirped cheerfully.

"No?" Jasper looked at his cousin in shock. Of all of them, he had figured Henry would have something planned.

"Nope." Henry replied with a goofy smile. "I figured I'd just arm it."

"It's wing it." Jasper groaned.

"But I don't have wings." Henry said in confusion.

"It's a figure of speech." Jasper explained. "It doesn't literally mean...oh forget it."

Henry shrugged and started looking around. Although he appeared to be just looking at the scenery, he was actually watching Robert who was directly behind him. The man had, he noticed, dropped several pieces of chalk and food wrapped up in cloth. No one else had noticed and Henry awtched as he did it once more.

Henry turned back to studying the forest to his right. He thought over all that he ahd noticed about the quiet man whose only words had been of concern. Henry was completly sure on what to think of the man. Was he a friend? Henry wanted to think so, but he wasn't sure.

The next hour passed by in silence. The only talking came from the nervous chatter of the two natives. No one could understand them, not even the kidnappers, but their nervousness was evident in their quiet voices.

"Would you two shut up?" Miles finally snapped.

One of the natives looked over and said something in his language. Miles stared at him angrily.

"Quit that babbling!" he ordered. "Speak English!"

Neither native said anything. Silene reigned once again. It wasn't until thirty minutes later that they got their first clue of how close they were. In the middle of the path was a spear with a human skull on the top.

Everyone stopped, but the two natives slowly backed their horses away.

"Well that's a stupid warning." Will spoke up. "What's a silly spear suppose to do?"

"It's not suppose to do anything, idiot." Kate growled. "It's a warning. And a bad one at that."

"Stop! Hey! Stop! Come back!" Jeremy shouted.

Everyone turned to see the two natives spurring their horses backwards and taking off at a gallop down the trail.

"Cowards." Miles shouted after them.

"Leave them. We're better off without them." Jeff snapped at them. "Come on."

He spurred his horse forward and pulled up next to the spear. With one pull, he had it out of the ground and tossed it to the side. The captives all looked at each other nervously, knowing what was probably coming next.

Jeff looked back with an evil grin.

"On to El Dorado."


End file.
